Poison Ivy
by XoX-queen-bee-XoX
Summary: This is getting way out of hand. Don't try it. Seriously, even I wouldn't recommend it, and I wrote it. Or at least don't say you haven't been warned that this no longer has even the slightest link to Holes.
1. New beginnings

A/N: Okay, so I know what you're thinking... Trust me, I know, bt this isn't just another one of those holes fanfictions... Well actually it is but it wil be good, I promise. And don't worry this is just a short note, because I hate those really long one's at the start of stories. But I don't really expect anyone to read this anyway, since the hole novelty has kind of worn off by now. Yeah this story's ony like five years late, sorry. But anyway, if _anyone_ does actually happen to read this which would shock me beyond all beliefe, then please review, tell me what you think all that. Now, onto the beginning:

The now dusty yellow bus pulled up outside the small building closest to the 'road' that the bus travelled on. The chipped sign on the door of the building proclaimed it to be the office. Behind the small wooden construction a large, unstable looking hall rose from the cracked, dusty ground. There was another sign on this door although from that distance it was indiscernible. Near there a number of rickety shower stalls stood, dripping slowly onto the parched ground. Further away still, some surprisingly large khaki green tents stood, where the campers must have slept. Beyond that there was... Nothing. An endless desert seemed to stretch on forever in every direction, except in the south where jagged mountains shimmered hazily in the heat. Far in the distance blurry people stood in the desert in small groups, doing something unapparent and a small truck drove from group to group.

Ivy raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow as she surveyed the dilapidated creations in front of her. This place was hardly what she had expected when the judge had said 'camp'. Then again, there was nothing green for miles, and there was certainly no lake, so maybe the whole name was simply a joke. Ivy was snapped out of her ponderings by a firm tap on her head from the guard's baton. He smirked as she flinched away from him before turning round to give him one of her best death glares. He hadn't been prepared for that. The girl's bright green eyes bored straight into his head, more venomous than anything he had ever seen before, and he had been taking kids to this place for a long time. It was terrifying and captivating at the same time and he found himself unable to look away. He felt as though the air was thickening and he took a forced, shaky breath. When she heard this, she sneered and released him from her gaze. He unintentionally leant away from her slightly, as she rose from her seat and began to walk along the bus to the doors that lead out into the intense heat of the midday sun. She dragged her shoes slowly over the ground, watching as a thick layer of dust coated them. She was glad she had decided against jeans at the last minute and was wearing, instead a pair of short shorts and a loose hoodie. Her long blonde hair hung loosely around her shoulders, shining brightly in the intense sunlight. "Move it along kid, Mr. Sir won't wait all day" she heard the sharp southern drawl of the guard behind her. She suppressed a smirk at the name of the man who seemed to be in charge. Clearly originality was seriously lacking in this hell hole.

When Ivy stepped into the small room, she was hit by a wave of cool air that was a welcome contrast to the stifling heat outside. A middle aged man sat behind a desk, wearing a cowboy hat, and chewing loudly on something which Ivy realised from the bag on his desk, was a sunflower seed. This, then, must be Mr. Sir. He lowered some cheap looking sunglasses to glare at her, and then jerked his head in the direction of the seat opposite him.

"Take a seat girly" he said, in a loud voice that was almost a growl. She obliged, sitting down in the rather hard seat, and crossing her legs.

"I am Mr. Sir. You will address me as that at all times. Is that clear girl?" he barked. Ivy nodded. "Yes Mr. Sir, of course". He looked slightly taken aback by how submissive she was. She could imagine that most of the people that came here were far less civil to him. Usually Ivy wouldn't have been so calm. The old Ivy would have sworn at him non-stop, probably before trying to do some serious bodily harm. But this wasn't the old Ivy. When she had been sentenced to two years at Camp Greenlake, she had decided to try and make a new start of things. Be a better person and all that kind of thing. And if that meant being nice to a crazy old man in a cowboy hat, then so be it. Ivy could live with that. Who knew, maybe she could get out early on good behaviour.

"I hope you realise how special you are girly" he told her "you're lucky the warden needs all the hands she can get, or you'd be off to jail right now".

Mr. Sir stood up and walked over to a large box, out of which, he pulled two orange jumpsuits and an orange cap. Ivy grimaced at the clothes that were quite probably the ugliest things she had ever seen. The orange was the same colour as a traffic light, and they looked to be about five sizes too big for her. She had to admit, when she had decided to be a better person, looking like a walking carrot hadn't been part of the plan.

"These are your new clothes. One's your work clothes, and one's your relaxation clothes. They get washed every three days and then your work clothes become you relaxation clothes and vice-versa. You'll be in D-tent, your counsellor's Dr. Federovski. He should be here in a second. So girly, any questions?" he said, throwing the clothes to her and sitting back down. Ivy smirked.

"Just one" Ivy couldn't stop herself "Do I get to keep the hat?"

...

So, how was that for a starting huh? I didn't think it was too bad, but then again, I'm a little biased. anyway, Im not planning on writing any more chapters until i get a review because I don't really see the point in writing a story that no one's going to read. And plus it's two in the morning and I have rowing and netball tomorrow, so I need a bit of sleep.

p.s... Sorry if i use any strange words, I'm from New Zealand, and you know what we're like over here, haha. Just kidding, but you know, in case there's a bit of a language barrier or whatever, just mention it in the reviews. Cheers

xx

QB


	2. meeting the boys

A/N: Okay, so I know i said no more chapters until someone reviewed the first one, but I'm really bored! And besides, that could take qute a long time, because i'm pretty sure that no one's going to read this story, but, if you do then absolutely _totally_ review it, I don't mind if it's a bad review, as long as you're honest... Well maybe I mind a little :P:P Anyway, on with the story...

"The boys are really quite lovely, when you get to know them" Federovski told her in a quiet voice, that was trying all too hard to be happy "They may be a little difficult at first mind". They were walking over to D-tent, passing various groups of boys who were all giving Ivy strange looks.

"Oh don't worry doctor" Ivy told, him with a small smile "I'm sure I'll be fine". If there was one thing Ivy knew how to deal with it was boys. She'd certainly had her fair share of fun with them in the past, although her new self, might not be so proficient at handling them.

When they reached the tent Federovski reached forward and pulled open the flap of the tent to reveal three boys sitting in the tent. Two were yelling angrily at each other, although they stopped when the tent opened, while a third one lay back on one of the seven beds with his hands behind his head. He was staring blankly at the roof, as though he was cloud watching, although even if he had of been able to see the sky, there were certainly no clouds in it.

"Ivy, this is Joel, Daniel and Luke and I assume that Jermaine, Antonio and Reggis are still digging. Boys meet your new tent member, Ivy Stallone". The two boys sitting on the floor stared blankly at Ivy, and she felt a sudden urge to pull out her mirror and check to make sure there was nothing wrong with her face. The third boy swung his feet of the bed and sat up, looking at Dr. Federovski.

"Back up Shrink, how many times do we need to have this conversation? We ain't '_Joel, Daniel and Luke_', I'm Ace, and they're Sparky and... Luke" he told Federovski, giving the boy Luke a strange glare as he said it. At the end of his sentence he turned to smirk at Ivy, who eyed him suspiciously, although she was unable to ignore the fact that he was a far cry from ugly. He had messy brown hair, laughing eyes and a wicked sort of grin. "At your service" he added, giving Ivy a mock salute. Usually she would have smiled, but there was something about this boy that made her wary, and so she simply frowned at him.

"Well _Joel_, since you seem so keen to be helpful, why don't you take our new friend here around the camp. Show her the ropes" Federovski told him. Ace/Joel gave Federovski an apologetic look.

"Love to Shrink, but I got other shit to do. You know how it is" he said, turning around and lying back down on the bed in the same position he was in before. Ivy raised her eyebrows incredulously. She hadn't been here long, but she was pretty certain there wasn't a lot else that he could be doing right now.

"Joel, it would be greatly appreciated if you could refrain from using that kind of language. And you will show Ivy around, that's the end of it" he snapped, and Ivy felt her eyes widen in shock. This was certainly not the Federovski she had seen before. Talk about mood swings. He turned to Ivy "Now, Ivy dear, I have to go, but if you could get changed into your clothes and then Joel here will take you around the camp". Ivy nodded, as Federovski smiled, and walked away in the direction of the office. She turned back around and looked at the boys again. The two on the floor were still staring at her. One of them was extremely skinny with pale skin and a giant mop of red hair on top of his head. His name was either Daniel or Sparky. The other was lightly tanned with slightly muscular arms and big brown eyes that were mostly covered by his shaggy blonde hair that fell over most of his face. Ivy was certain that he couldn't be more than fourteen. Ivy concluded that he must be Luke. She wondered why he didn't have a crazy nickname like the other two.

"Is your last name really Stallone?" asked Sparky/ Daniel, with wide eyes. Ivy bit back a smart retort. She simply nodded. She had been doing a lot of nodding today; it seemed to be part of the job description for this good person thing.

"Wow" said Luke "are you related to Sylvester Stallone then"? Ivy couldn't stop her eyes from rolling. She got asked this a lot. It got annoying after awhile. She was pretty certain that not everyone who was called Roberts got asked if they were related to Julia. Before she could answer she was interrupted by the arrival of another boy into the tent. He had dark, chocolate coloured skin, huge arm muscles and a small afro.

"Man, Shrink was going crazy out- Woah, damn bro, why is there a chick in our tent?" he said, looking Ivy up and down appreciatively, before turning to look at Ace/ Joel who smirked at him.

"Why do think Fro? She got lost on her way to her girl scouts meeting" he drawled, as the new boy, Fro apparently, sat down on one of the beds. Fro grinned and Sparky leaned closer to him, covering his mouth as though he were about to tell him a secret, before saying loud enough that everyone could hear "She's _sleeping_ with us". Ace snorted loudly, and Ivy couldn't stop herself from grinning. Clearly this Sparky kid wasn't the brightest one in the group.

"Alright, that's enough fun for one day boys" Ace told them "time to make like a tree and get out so our new friend can get changed". He waved his hand at them and the other three disappeared from the tent. He rolled over onto his side and watched Ivy expectantly.

"You've got to be kidding me" she said, unable to believe that anyone could be so egotistical.

"Oh don't mind me, I just have to make sure you don't get lost see. Shrink would kill me if that happened".

"I think I'll manage" she told him, glaring.

"Really, it's no trouble" he said, not moving an inch. She frowned, but realised resignedly that he wasn't planning on moving any time soon. And it wasn't exactly as though she could make him, considering that he was about half a foot taller than her and a hell of a lot stronger.

"Fine" she muttered, moving further into the tent and turning away from him. She unzipped the hoodie and pulled it off her shoulders, revealing her lean, tanned arms. This was followed by her shorts, which she pulled off and chucked on the unoccupied bed. She looked down and realised that maybe some less skimpy underwear would have been a good choice today, but then again, she didn't really care; it wasn't as though no one had ever seen her in less than this before, and she highly doubted Ace was unaccustomed to it either. Even so, she was sure she heard a sharp intake of breathe, and it certainly wasn't hers. She grabbed the jumpsuit off the ground and pulled it up over her white tank top that she was already wearing. Then she pulled the hair tie off her wrist and tied up her hair, to keep it off her neck. Then she turned back around to look at Ace who was grinning at her. She glared back. This boy really was ruining her 'be nice' resolution.

"Let's go" she said, walking towards the entrance of the tent quickly, wanting to get out of there.

"Chill Ivy" he said her name like he had to force it out of his mouth. A little like how he had said Luke's name Ivy thought, "No need to rush". He was laughing at her, she could tell. She had only known this boy for five minutes and already she couldn't stand him. If all the other boys were like this, Ivy had no idea how she was meant to keep her resolution.

...

So that's really all for now. Really really. Any thoughts/ suggestions etc. And just btw, that was the longest chapter. Like, by far, the others are goingto be a lot shorter than that, sorry, but if you review, then they'll come a lot quicker... Sorry, couldn't help it.

xx

QB


	3. future prospects

"And this is the Wreck Room" Ace told her, pointing to the large building that Ivy had seen when she first arrived.

"They've spelt it wrong" she said, a little absent-mindedly, looking at the sign on the door and Ace grinned smugly.

"No they haven't" he muttered, opening the door. Ivy was hit by a loud wave of noise that rolled out to meet them and she stared grimly at the carnage in front of her. Boys ran in all directions mostly chasing each other, and some lounged lazily on the worn sofas. There was a broken TV, a few tables and a scratched up pool table and as far as she could see, that was it. Ace walked over to the four guys hanging around the pool table. Two of them Ivy recognized as Sparky and Fro from before, but she didn't know the other two.

"Yo, Eight, Snake, this is Ivy. She's in our tent" He gestured first to a tall boy Spanish with big round glasses covered in a film of dust, and then to a small black boy, with close cropped hair and a large earring glinting from his left ear. Ivy didn't miss the fact that he did the name thing to her again. What was up with this kid and names? They both stopped playing to ogle Ivy unashamedly. After about two minutes Eight turned back to the game.

"Damn Fro, I thought you was kiddin' bro". Ivy raised an eyebrow and Snake smirked, his earring shining right in Ivy's eye for a second.

"So chick, what did you do?" Snake asked, his voice dry and gravely. Ivy stared at him coldly. There was absolutely no way she was telling them what she did to get in here. They were all staring at her 

now and she opened her mouth to tell him to get lost, in a bit more graphic terms, when she was once again interrupted.

A large hand wrapped around her waist and spun her around.

"What's up babe?" asked the extremely toned boy with a shaved head and copious amounts of tattoos on his arms, who was standing in front of her. Ivy looked around her, wondering if any of the boys were planning to step in. Back in her hometown, if anyone touched her, all the guys were there and ready to help. Apparently that wasn't the case here. Ace looked right back at her and shrugged giving her a look as if to say 'well, what are you going to do'? Ivy was fine with that; she could deal with this guy herself.

"Not much" Ivy said, trying her hardest to be nice, "Do you mind letting go of me now"?

He smirked and ignored her request "What do you say you and I go back to my tent, and get better acquainted"? Okay, she had asked nicely and he hadn't let go of her, which meant that now, if she was rude to him it was his own fault.

"I have a better idea. Why don't you go back to your tent and get better acquainted with your hand?" she said smoothly, turning back around, while the four boys cracked up and Ace gave an approving smirk.

"Come on babe, don't make me force you" Ivy felt a hand on her shoulder. Before she knew what she was doing, she had grabbed his hand, spun around, and twisted his arm around, forcing him into the ground. She held his arm at an odd angle, while she placed a knee in the small of his back, keeping him firmly where she had him. A small crowd was slowly gathering to watch the interchange.

"Listen closely kid, cause' I'm only gonna say this once" she hissed, loud enough for most of the people around them to hear, "Don't look at me, don't touch me, don't even _think_ about me. If you try to fuck with me, it won't be pretty for you. That goes for all of you" she added, looking up and around at the other boys. "I'm not going to have sex with any of you, so don't bother trying, you're wasting my time". With that she let go of the boys arm, and stood up, walking swiftly out the door towards her tent. There went her resolution.

There was a moment of silence before Ace spoke. "Well damn boys, I do think we have a little bet on our hands" he said, a wicked grin lighting up his face. A low murmur of agreement ran through the crowd.

...

**Ohhhh, exciting, hehe. I don't really like this chapter, but it gets better from here... Really.**

**Well I think it does at least :P**

**I'd do one of those disclaimer things here, but, well this site is called fanfiction... It's pretty blatant that I don't own the story, just everyone except for Mr. Sir and the warden.**

**Just for the record, they're all like seventeen, or sixteen. Except for Luke who's like thirteen or fourteen. And if anyone has any thought on what they want to happen, go ahead, all ideas are great cause I'm really busy right now with, um, life and all that. lol**

**cheers**

**xx**

**QB**


	4. Bad food and worse pickup lines

Ivy didn't know what time it was, and honestly, she was a lot happier that way. It was still dark outside and someone was shaking her fervently. She groaned, rolled over and tried to ignore them.

"Dang Rocky" she heard a voice groan, "Wake up already". She grabbed her pillow and stuck it over her head. She didn't know who Rocky was, but she certainly didn't plan on getting up any time soon.

"Dayum, that girl can sleep" someone else muttered. Ivy groaned.

"Why do I have to wake her up?" the voice closest to her bed whined.

"Because, if she's gonna kill someone, it might as well be you" That was Ace. She would recognise his voice anywhere. Unfortunately.

"What the hell do you want?" She grunted. She heard snickers, mostly from Ace's corner of the tent. Boy did she hate that guy.

"You need to get up, we have to go start digging, it's five o'clock already" she rolled over to see a rather nervous looking Luke staring at her. She didn't say anything, just scowled at him as she pulled herself slowly out of bed. At any other time of the day, Ivy would have had a problem with walking around in her underwear and a tank top in front of a bunch of testosterone filled teenage boys. Luckily for them, she wasn't a morning person. She could barely remember where she was, let alone what she was wearing. She pulled on her jumpsuit and walked unsteadily towards the dining room. She opened the door and walked in to find five tables set up, mostly full of boys in orange jumpsuits. One table only had two people on it and Ivy groggily realised that they were Sparky and Snake. Snake gave her nod and waved her over to the table. She grabbed a plate of food before going over.

"Yo, Rocky, what's up?" he asked as she sat down. She noticed that strange Rocky person they kept talking about, although she had no idea who it was. She waited for someone to answer but no one did. She looked around blankly for someone, but there were only the three of them on the table. She looked back at Snake, trying to work out why he was talking to someone who wasn't there. He smirked at her as he slurped noisily on his cereal.

"It's you Ivy" he said after he finished his spoonful. She looked at him some more, still not understanding. What was her? Then it clicked.

"I'm Rocky?" she asked, slightly bewildered "Why?" It was Sparky's turn to grin now.

"You tell us _Stallone_" he sniggered. Great, she thought, just great. Now she got a nickname because of her stupid last name. Boys were so predictable.

"That's really the best you guys could do?" she muttered. Snake shrugged "Tell that to Ace, he comes up with the nicknames, not us". She glared; of course. Did she really need any more reasons to not like that guy.

"So why are you Snake then?" she asked, realising after she said it that maybe she didn't want to know. She could guess what it might have something to do with. Snake must have seen the look on her face because he gave her a reassuring smile.

"It ain't like that" he explained, and next thing she knew he put his hand on her cheek. At first she was shocked, trying to work out why on earth Snake was coming on to her. Then she noticed something. His hands were freezing cold. She blinked at him, and he smirked as he took his hand away. "It's my hands. They're always cold, even in the middle of the day. Ace says it's 'cause I'm cold blooded. Like a snake" he gave her a mischievous grin. "Not that it doesn't have something to do with that other thing as well".

Ivy rolled her eyes. Snake really didn't seem like such a bad guy. She was getting the vibe that, after Ace, he was second in command of D-Tent. Maybe he wouldn't be such a bad person to be friends with. He could probably help get Ace to stay away from her. Perhaps he could even get her new nickname. Besides that, he reminded her a lot of someone she used to know, before she got sent to Camp Green Lake. She knew how to deal with people like him. In fact she was a master at dealing with loudmouth funny guys like him. That was part of how she got here in the first place.

At that moment the door opened once more to reveal a rather dishevelled looking group of boys, led by none other than Ace. As soon as Ace entered the room, there seemed to be a slight change in the atmosphere. All the boys seemed to become a little more excited. As Ace and the others walked up to the table with the food on it, Ivy heard low murmuring.

"Come on, go"

"Do it"

"Go, go, go" These murmurings all seemed to be aimed at one boy, who kept shooting furtive glances at Ivy. He smirked when he saw her looking and walked over to her.

"So" he began, his eyes running up and down her body making Ivy feel decidedly ill "Did it hurt?" Oh please, god no. He was not about to try that line on her. Next to her Snake choked on his mouthful of cereal as he began to laugh hysterically. The other D-tent boys, who were walking over to the table all slowed to watch the proceedings. If Ivy had of been looking, she would have seen Ace's nose screw up slightly when he saw the boy standing in front of her.

"Did what hurt?" she asked, hoping against hope that he wouldn't say what she was expecting him to say.

"When you fell from heaven". She smirked at him. She stood up and moved closer to him.

"No" she said thoughtfully, "But I think this will". And with that she brought her knee up, hard, right between his legs. He fell to the ground with a loud yelp and grabbed at his crotch as the other boys laughed hysterically. Ace groaned loudly and chucked a half eaten apple at him.

"That was pathetic Mouse" he yelled over the laughing. The boy, Mouse, simply gave him the finger and then hobbled back over to his table.

"Damn Rocky" laughed Fro "that was cold girl". She rolled her eyes before jumping up and walking back outside, heading for the tent.

She hadn't even realised that anyone was following her until she felt a light tap on her shoulder and turned to see Luke standing behind with a hesitant smile on his face. She smiled dubiously back; she wasn't too sure about Luke. She hadn't actually talked to him, but he had been the one to ask her the rudimentary 'Sylvester Stallone' question, and he had woken her up this morning. So far he had two major crosses on his sheet. Plus, none of the other boys seemed to like him very much, and there had to be a reason behind that.

"Hi, Rocky, I just wanted to... Um, are you- what I mean is... That must have been pretty annoying, and I just wanted to see if you were okay" he finished the end of the sentence in a huge rush, looking nervously around him, as though he was expecting someone to be standing near them listening. She grinned.

"Wow Luke, that was really sweet of you" she said, and she really meant it "but I'm fine. It's him that you should be worried about". Luke gave a huge grin, and shook his long hair out of his eyes.

"Yeah, well he deserved it" Luke said, and the grin disappeared from his face quite quickly and it was replaced by a sour expression. He leaned closer in a slightly conspiratorial way and lowered his voice. "When I first got here, about six days ago, he was trying to start something with Ace. Things got really violent. It's probably good you missed it". Ivy raised her eyebrows.

"He tried to beat up Ace? Damn, I wish someone told me that before. I would have been way nicer to him" She meant it as a joke, but she quickly realised that Luke was the wrong person to be joking about Ace with. He gave a severe frown and began to twiddle his thumbs nervously.

"Rocky, Ace isn't such a bad guy you know. He just, it's like he thinks differently from the rest of us, right? He's a really nice person. He's not trying to be annoying or anything". Ivy barely managed to contain a snort, because she was 100 percent certain that that was exactly what he was trying to do.

"Righto kid. Whatever you say" she knew she didn't sound like she believed him, and she didn't particularly mean to. She couldn't for the life of her work out why Luke seemed to like him, because he treated him like shit. And after that conversation, Ivy wasn't so sure Luke was as annoying as she had thought he was. He might even be kind of nice, and she didn't really want Ace screwing him up. So now she had two goals; be nice and save innocent little Luke from Ace's evil clutches.

...

**That's all for today, I did two chapters because shockingly I was bored, and I was in a bad mood because we lost netball by nine goals which we don't normally do and I write more when I'm annoyed.**

**Anyway, I hope they were good, and the _one_ person who's actually reading this, or at least reviewing it, enjoys it :):)**

**thanks so much Miss-Paparella, my first review! I felt so special haha, but seriously cheers ;)**

**Please review if you're reading? I know how annoying it is when you're reading and the writer keeps telling you to review, but I had never written before and now I totally understand where they're coming from, so you know if you have a spare twenty seconds... it's not that hard. You know you want to**

**cheers**

**xx**

**QB**


	5. First hole

"God damn it" Ivy groaned as she looked down into the two foot hole she had dug. It was after lunch already and the boys were all close to being finished, but her hole simply didn't seem to be growing. She looked around her to see Luke jumping out of his hole. He couldn't be finished already, could he? That wasn't humanly possible. And it was unfair. Ivy decided right then that she should have chosen jail. Digging was not her thing. She stared morosely at her blistering hands with their now chipped nails. She had loved her nails. When she looked up again she saw Ace looking at her with an eyebrow raised and one of those wicked grins on his face and she glared back at him. Right at that moment she wanted nothing more than to take that shovel and smack him over the head with it. Maybe she should do that. That way she would get kicked out and have to go to jail, where there were no holes, or boys or crazy lizards.

She slipped the top half of her jumpsuit down and tied it around her waist, unable to stand the unbearable heat any longer. Then she dug her shovel back into the dry ground and kept on digging. After another ten minutes Ace jumped out of his hole. Ivy looked up, and saw him looking at her three foot hole. For one second he looked as though he was going to come over, but then he seemed to change his mind, and he turned and began the long walk back to camp. Ivy was glad. She couldn't handle Ace right now.

"Hey yo Rocky" Ivy heard Snake call as he jumped out of his hole. She looked up glad for any distraction from the digging. Ace stopped walking too and he turned around to watch the conversation.

"What's up?" she asked, wiping a hand across her forehead to clear away the beads of sweat that were gathering there.

"I've lost my virginity, can I have yours"? Ivy would have been shocked if they hadn't all been trying out feeble pickup lines on her all day.

"Sorry Snake, I can't find mine either" she replied and went back to her hole, which was beginning to grow more quickly. She didn't see the slightly relieved look that crossed Ace's face and disappeared seconds later. No one saw it, except for Snake, who tried to hide the shock on his face, unable to believe what he was seeing with his own two eyes.

...

**Sorry, mini-chapter, I know, but don't worry, the next one should be pretty interesting lol. I have some serious plans. Do you wanna guess what happens?**

**I'll give you a clue, it involves Ivy and a certain Ace that we all know and... _love_. And a bed hehe. **

**And thanks to Childhood-disruption for the review and just in case you didn't guess already, the answer to your questions a definite YES. haha**

**That's all for now, peace out**

**xx**

**QB**


	6. Uncertainty

It was around five o'clock when Ivy finished digging her hole. The sky was beginning to darken and she was the only one left out in the desert. She jumped out of her hole and made her way slowly back to the camp, every muscle in her body aching. When she got to the tent there was nobody there, and she collapsed thankfully onto her bed. She lay there for a long time before she pulled off the now sweaty jumpsuit and grabbed a towel. She walked over to the showers, finding the place strangely empty. There was still the odd boy here and there, but for the most part they were either in the Wreck room or in their tents.

She jumped quickly through the shower, wrapping the towel tightly around her before scurrying rapidly back to the tent. There was still no one in there, and she pulled on some clean clothes- minus the jumpsuit- from out of her bag. Then she lay down on her bed and closed her eyes, groaning as all the muscles in her body screamed in pain.

"Well, look who finally came back" she heard Ace's voice and groaned some more, trying to ignore him. "Don't sweat it kid, I know how you feel right now. I just thought I'd make sure you were alright". Ivy was shocked, but if Ace was about to start being nice to her, she wasn't going to complain. Maybe she wouldn't even call him out on the 'kid' thing.

"Well I'm not" she muttered, wanting to roll over and look at him, but unable to will her body to move. "It hurts. _Everywhere_".

"Yeah, I know what you mean. First day's always the hardest" he came over and sat down next to her. "It's worst in the shoulders" he muttered, and then suddenly Ivy felt warm hands rubbing her shoulders. Her breath caught in her throat, and she didn't know what to do. She wasn't sure that she should let him keep going, but it felt too good to tell him to stop. She groaned loudly and he gave a low throaty laugh. All her shoulder muscles began to relax under Ace's skilled fingers and she sighed softly.

"My neck hurts too you know" she murmured, and she just knew he would be smirking as his fingers moved up to her neck.

"And my back". They moved down, lower to her back. She groaned again.

"A little lower" she said and the fingers moved down to her lower back. "Lower". She wasn't exactly sure what she was doing. She didn't know if she even liked Ace, let alone if she wanted to be doing this type of thing with him. But she couldn't stop herself. His hands moved lower and gripped her hips, rolling her over to lie on her back. She stared up at him with her most seductive look plastered across her face. No one had ever said no to that look before. Her green eyes smouldered at him, and 

Ace smirked at her. This definitely wasn't part of the bet. But no one was here to see it so that meant that it didn't count.

"It kinda hurts here too" she murmured pointing to her stomach, and his hands moved there, "Under the shirt" she added and he slipped his hands down and under her shirt, lifting it over her head.

"And here" she smiled, pointing to her lips. Ace grinned; it had taken her long enough. He leaned down, kissing her roughly and repositioning himself so he was lying on top of her. Even as his lips came down on hers, Ivy wasn't sure about what she was doing. Impulsiveness used to be her thing, but with her new plan in place, did she really want to be like that? She knew she didn't, but his tongue felt so right licking along her lip like that. And his hand felt so good running over her thigh. Maybe being a good person could wait a few minutes... Or a few hours.

She moved her hands to the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up over his head. His hand was on her bra now and she moaned desperately as she pressed her hips almost violently against his. And suddenly he pulled away from her. His breathing was slightly uneven and his hair a little more untidy than usual but his smirk was still firmly in place.

"Okay, enough fun for one day" he said.

"What?" Ivy couldn't believe it. No guy had ever said no to her before. What was Ace playing at?

"Come on, I gotta let the other boys have their shot" he grinned getting off her.

"What are you talking about? Wait, is all this stupid pickup line crap your idea?" she was scowling now.

"Course not Rock, I wouldn't do that to you" she could tell he was lying. She was meant to be able to tell. He was just trying to annoy her now.

"You stupid-"

Come on now Rocky, let's not go calling each other names" he was laughing at her again.

She glared at him some more, not saying anything.

"It was just a bet. Be easy chick"

"If it was a bet then why did you stop? You just lost your chance for good now" Ivy told him, thinking that this would annoy him. Or hoping that it would at least. He just smirked even more, if that was humanly possible and gave her an 'I know something you don't know' sort of look.

"I'm the judge" he told her, waiting to see her reaction. She didn't know what to say. She didn't even know that bet's had judges.

"Why did you want to judge it"? she asked, not sure whether to be happy or offended.

"'Cause, I ain't into you like the others are. So it was only fair that way".

"You're 'not into me like the others are'? 'Cause I certainly didn't get that impression just now".

"Well, damn Rock, I sure didn't mean to be giving you the wrong impression, but you know how it is" and with that he stood up and walked out of the tent. Ivy had no idea how it was, she was more confused then, than she ever had been in her entire life. She hated when he said things like that. Ace needed a serious reality check if he thought he made any sense whatsoever when he talked. And just like that Ivy went straight back to hating Ace all over again.

...

**Well... wasn't that interesting. Is it just ,me or is Ace an asshole?**

**I'm pretty sure it's not just me.**

**LOL. I would have been pretty mad with him. So for everyone out there who wanted some romance, i think you just got it. Well, that wasn't exactly romantic, but you know what I mean.**

**And I realised today that I haven't had any of the adults in it really at all, so maybe they'll have a counselling (sorry, i honestly can't spell) thing soon.**

**Yay... all the excitement.**

**thanks for reading**

**xx**

**QB**


	7. Accidents happen

"Rocky? Rocky, can I come in?" Ivy heard Luke's voice calling from outside the tent.

"Sure you can kid" she answered, sitting up and rolling her shoulders which had started to hurt again. Luke's shaggy blonde head appeared through the flaps.

"I just wanted to check on you... I know how hard the first hole is" he said, trying to sound casual and failing dismally. Ivy was reminded sourly of a slightly deeper, much more self-centred voice saying very similar words only half an hour ago. She stopped herself from scowling; it wasn't Luke's fault that Ace was a stupid, annoying, confusing, arrogant jerk. He was just trying to help.

"I'm fine Luke, but thanks for coming to check" He walked over and sat down on the bed across from her.

"Not a problem... Rocky, can I ask you something"? he asked nervously, lacing his fingers together and twiddling his thumbs.

"Shoot" she smiled, trying to sound welcoming. He seemed a little bit scared of her and she didn't want him to be; he seemed like a great kid.

"What did you do? To get in here, I mean. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to" he added, seeing the look on her face change rapidly. She pondered the question for awhile. Admittedly it wasn't something that she really wanted to talk about, but maybe it would be good to get it off her chest. Especially to someone like Luke who she knew wouldn't tell anyone.

"Okay then, I'll tell if you do. I mean you don't really seem like a juvy kid if you get what I mean". Luke beamed at her.

"I'm not. Well I mean, I am, but I shouldn't be. Did you see, a few months ago, that stuff on the news about Harry Rogers"? Ivy thought back a little way. She vaguely remembered some stuff about the ex pro surfer being assaulted, although she couldn't remember the details.

"Sure, not well though. He got assaulted or something right?" Luke snorted,

"Yeah that's a bit of a stretch" he muttered bitterly. "I was at the beach with my friends, we're just hanging out, doing a bit of surfing and the like, when we see him across the street. So we go over, and I take my board with me 'cause it's this brand new Legacy long board, and I don't wanna put it down. It was a really gorgeous board, perfect height, and you could just tear it up on the waves, man. I miss that board so much... Anyway, we go over and talk to him, and we have this great conversation about billabong and all that and he signs my board for me and then we go. Only as I'm 

going, the board hits him, and he falls out into the road right as this little BMW's going past and I try to grab him but it's too late and the car smacks him real hard. Then everyone starts yelling and the BMW stops and Harry's just lying there in the middle of the road and I'm thinking 'oh shit, I just killed a surfing legend'."

"Wait, you _killed_ him?" Ivy asked, her green eyes open extremely wide. Luke shook his head.

"Nah, he broke his leg in three places, his arm in two and his nose. He had to get real extensive surgery afterwards and they told him he couldn't surf any more. He must have decided that it was my fault, because when they asked him for a statement he said I pushed him into the road. And they could hardly disagree with that, 'cause from what everyone saw, that's exactly what I did. So now I'm here, with all the other crazy juvy kids and Ace... And you, I mean you're not a crazy juvy or any of that. You're actually pretty cool Rocky" he added in a rushed voice, making Ivy smile. She didn't ask why he hadn't lumped Ace in as one of the juvies. With the hero-worshipping way that Luke looked at him, it wasn't hard to tell.

"You're not too bad yourself kid" she laughed, reaching forward to ruffle his hair. She forgot about telling her story. Luke must have forgotten as well, she thought, because he didn't bring it when she finally remembered. That was fine by her; she wasn't going to tell the story if she didn't have to.

...

**Ohhhh, so we still don't know what Ivy did to get in here. Well, actually I do, but you still don't. Gutted for you guys.**

**That's all for today. And I probably won't update tomorrow because I have a hee-uuuge test on... chemistry? I think.**

**oh shit, I should probably go and study for that! Or maybe even just find out what it's actually for. Okay, I'm going right now,**

**cheers**

**xx**

**QB**


	8. Mixed emotions

The next day went by much the same as the first, only this time she had sore muscles to go along with it. She decided she definitely agreed with Eight, when he said the second hole was the hardest. The pickup line frenzy hadn't died down in the slightest and after the fifth attempt (coming from a very eager Sparky; "I've lost my teddy bear, can I sleep with you?") Ivy wanted nothing more than to keep digging until she disappeared into the ground, where all the boys would leave her alone. Well actually there was one thing she wanted more, and he happened to be standing ten feet away from her, digging the last foot of his hole. She hadn't talked to Ace since the disaster that was last night, but, after spending the night pondering, she realised that she really didn't hate him as much as she thought she did. Well, that wasn't strictly true. She still hated Ace the person vehemently, but Ace the body, well he wasn't so easy to dislike.

Another thing that had happened since the Ace calamity was that Luke had officially acquired himself a nickname. The newly appointed Fin, Ivy assumed after his love of surfing, was just getting out of his hole at that moment. He walked over to her hole and looked down to where she was digging away steadily. She was about three feet down, and doing quite well, by her standards.

"Wow, Rocky, good work" he said, sounding just like a teacher speaking to a particularly slow student.

"Thanks Fin. That really means a lot to me" she said sarcastically. She was in a bad mood today, although she wasn't sure why.

"Jeez Rock, no need to bite my head off, I was only saying" he muttered, looking slightly shocked. Before Ivy got a chance to reply, Ace had cut her off.

"Don't sweat it kid. Girls get really angry when they haven't got any in a long time" he wasn't even smirking, a look of completely false sincerity on his face.

"Wow Ace, you must be furious then" Ivy bit back, returning to digging her hole and ignoring the loud hooting of all the boys.

"Damn Ace, Rock got you good boy" Snake was laughing, and Ace much to Ivy's vexation simply grinned. Why was it so damn hard to annoy this boy? Everything seemed to just bounce right off him. She couldn't stand him anymore. She let out a frustrated groan and went back to digging with more vehemence than before. To everyone's surprise, Ivy was the third person to finish digging that day.

...

**Okay, so i officially suck at studying... I got really bored so I stopped and came back to write some more for you guys :P**

**I'****ll just wing it tomorrow, I mean, I've never studied before so why bother starting now hehe. After all, I speak English pretty bloody well so it's pretty stupid if they fail me. (that's what the test is on btw. English. Not chemistry)**

**And, sorry, I know this was a short chapter, but I'm not sure what to do next.**

**I'm tossing up between her trying to make Ace jealous or her trying to get over him. You guys tell me; what do you think I should do, cos I'm so stuck right now.**

**And seriously, I'm not writing anymore until someone reviews because I need to know what you want to happen... Man, this stuff is confusing, I never knew writing was so hard.**

**Oh, and lastly, do you guys mind me still calling her Ivy, even though she has a nickname? Cos i was planning to keep doing it, but then I thought that might get a bit confusing. I'd rather stick with Ivy, but if you want me to go with Rocky, I can do that.**

**Y'all get back to me on that**

**merci beaucoup (yeah, I have a French test tomorrow as well)**

**xx**

**QB**


	9. The 'L' word

Ace lay very still on his bed, staring up at the tent roof. He thought about a lot of things, but mostly he thought about Ivy. Ivy with her stupid blonde hair and green eyes and beautiful smile. Scratch that, she didn't have a beautiful smile, she had an evil smile, because that's what she was; evil. She was the most confusing, annoying, frustrating, totally hot chick he had ever met and he couldn't keep his mind off her. He hated the way she was always asking questions and the way she was always around Snake and Fin. Fin was just kid after all. Why would she want to be with him, he was so annoying? He didn't understand why she was so bloody difficult; most girls would have jumped on him by now. But then Ivy wasn't most girls. She didn't act like other girls and she definitely didn't look like most girls. It was hard to miss all the comments that the other guys made about her. That idea made his jaw clench instinctively and he scowled. What was happening to him? He had never felt like this before, and more than that he had never needed to. Girls came after him, not the other way around. He was Ace. The Ace, who was always the boss of everything and never had any problems. Well, except for that one time. Otherwise he wouldn't be here.

He heard voices approaching the tent. He sat up and seconds later Eight and Sparky walked through the flaps and sat down on their beds.

"Yo Ace, what's up?" Eight asked, removing his glasses to clean them on his shirt, which was slightly futile since his shirt was covered in dirt as well.

"Not much. Chillin', you know how it is" he muttered, and even he heard the extremely forced tone to his voice.

"Man, Rock seemed pretty pissed today" Sparky smirked, raising his eyebrows. Eight laughed harshly, "What do you expect? She's crazy, even if she is fine as hell". Ace's fingers dug into the mattress underneath him as he tried not to react to that last comment. This was bad. Very, very, very bad. What the hell was going on? He didn't do the jealousy thing. Or the caring thing. In fact, if it involved any sort of emotional effort, then he probably didn't do it. Ivy was just another girl. He could have any one that he wanted, so why did she matter? She didn't. It was that simple. He would just not care about her. It couldn't be that hard. Could it?

"What are you on about boy?" Ace asked, forcing a smirk onto his face, "She ain't anything special". He was shocked at how convincing he sounded.

Eight raised an eyebrow at him incredulously. "Are you serious? Have you looked at her"?

Ace didn't answer, just looked back sceptically.

"Whatever man... Your choice" he muttered, grabbing a towel off his bed and walking out of the tent.

The grin that appeared on Sparky's face was dirt covered and a little creepy but still blatantly obvious. He waited for Eight to be well clear of the tent before he gave a whoop of glee.

"I knew it" he cried, "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it"! Ace opened his eyes wide in shock.

"Calm down already boy, you knew what?" he asked, staring at Sparky with mild interest.

"You, you're totally-I can't believe it- I mean- You're in love with Rocky"!

"What?!" After that Ace was completely speechless. He was not in love with anyone. Even the word made him feel sick. Love was for pathetic people and Ace was far from pathetic. No, no way was he in love. That weird feeling that he got when he was looking at Ivy and she was looking back, that didn't mean anything. Neither did the way that he just happened to know where she was all the time. He was just looking out for her. Trying to be a nice guy and all that. It was not love. It wasn't even like. He didn't do 'like'. He did sex. He was good at that kind of thing. The whole no strings attached, no personal attachment type of thing. He wouldn't even think about... That word. He didn't want her, he didn't like her and he certainly didn't love her. End of discussion.

And then Ivy walked into the tent, laughing lightly at something that Fin, who was walking behind her, had just said. And Ace felt that stupid, familiar jump in his stomach that he felt when he saw her. Only this time it wasn't so easy to ignore, because now he knew what it might be. He had to get out of there. He couldn't be around her. Not when she was hanging around that kid again. He jumped to his feet, not even bothering to give an excuse as to why he was leaving, and walked out of the tent. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Fin standing nervously behind him. He opened his mouth to tell him to get lost, but he couldn't seem to muster up the energy to be mean to him. He sighed instead.

"Hey, kid, what's up?" he muttered, his voice sounding more gravelly than usual. The boy looked back at him nervously, as though unsure whether or not he should say what he was thinking. Ace raised his eyebrow expectantly.

"IcantalktoRockyifyouwant" Fin mumbled, far too quickly for Ace to understand. He stared at Fin blankly.

"Huh?"

"I said, I can help you out" Fin said more calmly. Ace blinked a few times. He wasn't sure he had heard right. What was this? He didn't need help with anything, and even if he did, he wouldn't get it from Fin.

"Well cheers, but I don't need your help kid" he said, a little more harshly than he meant to. Fin frowned.

"But Me and Her, we kinda get each other. I can-" Ace cut him off.

"Woah there kiddo, I ain't got no idea what you're on about" he lied, "You and who?"

"Rocky. I thought you and her were... like, you know..." Fin trailed off looking decidedly uncomfortable. For one second Ace almost felt guilty, and then he remembered who he was, and he forced a smirk onto his face.

"Boy, Me and Rocks ain't anything. Never will be either, that's one mental chick you got there" he muttered, turning to walk away. And he felt a slight twinge of guilt. That was a first. Ace didn't feel guilty. Ever. Especially not about annoying little kids who thought they knew everything. But he felt it all the same and before he knew what he was doing, he turned around. Fin saw him and looked at him anxiously.

"But thanks. For offering" and with that Ace was gone, and Fin stood where he was, still as a statue, unable to believe what he had just heard.

...

**Sorry if this chapter sucks. I'm mad at my friends. I can't really focus.**

**Anyway. I only got one review, but i needed to write something, because I'm dead frustrated so i just kind of went with what seemed to work.**

**And I know that one was a little different cos it was kind of more Ace than Ivy, but I thought it was alright.**

**and btw Thanks to Miss-paparella and childhood-disruption for the two reviews that they've both done, but come on guys, **

**2 people? I mean don't get me wrong I love the 2 of you that did do them, but it' not that hard.**

**Please, plese pleaase?? I'll love you forever and i'll mention you in the next chapter!**

**Please?**

**cheers**

**xx**

**QB**

**ps. I just want to say hey to Phizza, who is the greatest friend in the whole wide world and I love her to pieces and and she's a ton better than bam.**

**xx**


	10. Unfinished sentences

"Hey Snake?" Ivy was lying in bed, tired and yet unable to sleep. She had tried a number of things to fix this, but after a while she gave up, and decided to talk instead.

"What Rock?" he sounded slightly irritated, which he probably was, since it was after eleven by that time, and getting up in the morning wasn't going to be pleasant. Usually she would have given up, but she was curious.

"Why are you here"?

"I sleep here Rocky, in case you hadn't noticed" she couldn't see his face but she could tell that he was grinning. She heard a few snickers from around the tent.

"Shut up, you know what I mean" she said seriously. He laughed.

"Stole some stuff, fought some people. Nothing too serious. Nothing like-"

"If you two are going to keep talking then can you _fuck off_? If you want a bloody counselling session go talk to shrink" Sparky yelled, and Ivy heard a dull thud as something hit Snake. He left off a loud string of curses aimed at Sparky and then shut up and seemed to promptly fall asleep. Ivy sighed as the heavy breathing of the boys sleeping filled the tent. If only Sparky could have waited ten seconds to interrupt. Whatever Snake had been about to say had sounded quite interesting. Nothing like what, she wondered. Was he going to name someone, or had it just been a general comment? Whatever it was, she definitely intended to find out.

...

**Thanks _again_ to childhood disruption, who's reviewed 3 times!! Wow, hehe**

**mega thanks and I meant to say this last time, but I'll say it now. This isn't really going to be all nice lovey romantic type of thing. Or if it is, it won't be for a while so if that's why you're reading it then you might be a little disappointed. Sorry**

**But yeah, I mean its not all like 'in love', it's more like a love/hate kind of thing... in case you didn't notice already.**

**Kay, that's all**

**Cheers**

**xx**

**QB**


	11. Sleep Kissing? What?

Ivy awoke that morning to find everyone else still fast asleep. It was still pitch black inside and outside the tent and she was groggily considering whether or not to go out there when she felt someone looking at her. She couldn't see anyone's face; she could barely see her hand in front of her face, but she did hear a rustling noise coming from Ace's bed. At first she didn't quite realise that Ace had been looking at her, because her brain seemed to still be half asleep. Sleep did strange things to Ivy. It made her do crazy things, and as she was about to find out, it made her do stupid things as well.

She rose from the bed in a dream like state, and walked slowly over to Ace's bed. His eyes didn't open, until she climbed into the bed and crawled on top of him. She felt his body tense and she smirked before raising a finger to his lips and shushing him. Next thing he knew, Ivy's foot began to run up and down his calf lightly as she leaned forward and licked over his chest up to his collarbone. He shivered slightly and she smirked. She bit down forcefully and Ace suppressed a moan that was a mixture of pain and excitement. She continued this over his chest, leaving a trail of marks behind her. Then she moved her lips up to his neck, sucking roughly while her hands ran eagerly over his arms and then his perfectly defined torso. She almost purred in delight as she pushed her hips forcefully into his, grinding slightly and he gave a low groan in return, pulling her hips closer into him. Ivy felt something hard pressing into the top of her thigh and she smirked.

She pulled away and climbed smoothly off of him and out of the bed. Before she left she leant down and murmured right next to his ear, "Boy Ace, it really sucks that you're not into me like those other guys". He didn't reply, only watched her intently as she walked back over to her bed and disappeared under the covers. When he heard her breathing steadily again, he groaned softly, massaging his temples with his hand. This girl really knew how to mess up his head.

...

**Damn, that looked _A LOT_ longer on microsoft word LOL. well sorry, that's all and actually, it really isn't _that_ important in the grand scheme of the story, but whatever. **

**Okay anyway, I was going to write this chapter just to tell everyone that unless some more people start reviewing then Im stopping the story, but then I changed my mind because I was too happy about this other thing, so I'm still going...**

**It's just that I know that more than 2 people are reading this, and like if you could review... that would be nice.**

**Even if you just want to tell me that it sucks, I don't even care, but I guess i'd be happier if that wasn't what you wrote.**

**Okay so now this note it longer than the story so I'm going to stop it. LOL sorry. :)**

**Anyway, only one more day of school this week, but i probaby won't update tomorrow because im busy tomorrow night and I have rowing before that.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading, even if you're not reviewing!**

**love ya**

**xx**

**Bee**

**ps. Okay, I just decided to do one more chapter before I go to sleep**

**hehe**


	12. Near discoveries

"Oh my god, I'm dying here, when's the water truck going to come again?" Ivy moaned as she sat out in her half finished hole, staring morosely at her empty canteen. The boys all sniggered. Or at least, most of the boys laughed. Ace didn't seem to hear her. Digging rapidly, right next to her hole, he seemed far too focused on finishing his hole which was very nearly done, despite it being long before midday. Fin, the fastest digger by far, was still only three quarters of the way finished. Coincidentally, Fin didn't seem to be laughing either. He was, instead, standing open mouthed in the hole next to Ace's staring intently at him. Or more specifically at one part of Ace: As the heat of the day had increased, Ace stopped his digging for the first time to undo his jumpsuit and tie it around his waist, his chest still covered by his white singlet. What wasn't covered were the reasonably large, round bruises that seemed to have appeared just below his collar bone. Ivy eyes opened very wide when she saw them. She hadn't even noticed until she saw Fin staring at Ace with his jaw practically trailing on the ground. The poor kid clearly had no idea what they were. When Ivy saw Fin start to speak, she really could have jumped into his hole and smothered him, but she thought that this situation called for a certain amount of subtlety.

"Wow Ace, what happened to you?" Fin sounded understandably shocked, but there seemed to be a slight undercurrent of something else. He sounded almost protective. Ace looked up at him blankly, one eyebrow raised. It was at that moment that Ivy realised Ace had no idea about the rather _interesting_ discolorations on him.

"The hell are you on about kid?" Ace asked, leaning offhandedly on his shovel with a bemused expression on his face. Ivy grimaced, knowing that this conversation was far from over. None of the others had noticed what was going on yet, and Ivy fully intended to keep it that way. She began to climb very slowly out of her hole.

"It looks like you got attacked by a vampire" Fin stated, quite bravely Ivy thought, considering how scared he was of Ace. That didn't really make her any happier with the situation though. She walked quietly down two holes to where Fin was standing and jumped into the hole. He jumped slightly, looking round wide eyed to where she had landed in the hole next to him. She smiled.

"Hey kiddo, you know, I just realised, I never got to finish my story that time, about how I got here" she said, sitting down in the hole, making it quite obvious that she didn't intend to move any time soon. She couldn't believe that she was about to do this for Ace. This was something that she had vowed to never talk about again, and here she was, telling it to Fin, just to stop him from finding out their secret. Well, maybe it wasn't all for Ace. Ivy wasn't quite as selfless as she wanted to believe. Fin raised his eyebrows at her, looking up at Ace.

"Can it maybe wait a little while Rocky, I was kind of talking to Ace?" he sounded pained, clearly realising that he wasn't going to get this opportunity again, but unwilling to give up questioning Ace. Ivy pouted quite convincingly, and remained seated in Fin's hole.

"Fine. I guess if you don't want to talk to me..." she trailed off, looking up at him sadly, and the immediate look of shocked guilt that showed on his face was extremely gratifying to Ivy. She almost felt bad playing Fin like that; there was no fun in it when it was that easy.

"No, of course I want to talk to you" he said quickly, "it's just that... You know what, don't worry, tell your story". Ivy grinned triumphantly, until the realisation of what she had just gotten herself into dawned on her. She sat quietly for a second, thinking. She didn't want to tell her story, she was certain of that, but she didn't really feel right about lying to Fin either. But without lying there was absolutely no way to get out of this. And then the sudden cloud of dust moving towards them through the desert appeared and she grinned. Someone up there must be looking out for her.

"Water, thank god" she cried, and she noticed her voice was slightly croaky. She stood up and watched as the truck moved closer to their holes. Federovski pulled up in front of them and jumped out of the truck. All the boys pulled themselves out of their holes and went over to line up. Ace, with a newly done up jumpsuit, took his usual place at the front, followed by Snake, Sparky, Fro, Eight and then Luke in front of Ivy.

Federovski beamed at all of them. "Good morning Joel. How's the digging going?" This comment warranted a large chorus of complaints from the boys about nicknames. Ivy stayed quiet, fidgeting at the end of the line as she waited for water.

"Are you ready for our counselling session tonight?" Federovski asked, the smile fading slightly, probably due to the horrific prospect of having to spend an hour in close confines with these boys. God knows Ivy didn't find the idea too appealing and she did it every night, "I have a surprise for you all".

Sparky sniggered. "What surprise would that be?" he asked, and Ivy was much happier not knowing what he was thinking. Federovski beamed again, wagging his finger at Sparky.

"Uh, uh, uh Daniel, if I told you then it wouldn't be a surprise would it? You'll just have to wait and see" he said mysteriously and Ivy raised an eyebrow. She had never been much of one for surprises; 

they usually turned out to be something bad. But who knew, whatever he had planned would probably be better than spending an hour talking about _feelings_.

...

**Okay, sorry not very good, I know, but it just with most of the other chapters I read over them a few times first before I publish them and I didn't with this one so it might end up not fitting in with the rest of the story at all. I might have to come back and change it.**

**But other than that, I like it LOL. At least it was longer than the note this time ;P**

**Okay, well I'm going to sleep now because I have maths tomorrow and i suck enough, without having had no sleep at all.**

**cheers**

**xx**

**QB**


	13. Deadly feelings

**Just for the record, the very start of this chapter, as in like, the fist sentence, makes more snese if you read it straight after you read the end of the last chapter. Okay anyway:**

"Tonight, we're going to be taking about feelings" Federovski announced and a loud ripple of groans ran around the circle. "Oh come now boys... and girl. Let's have a positive outlook on the situation. You can't achieve anything good with a negative mindset" he rattled off, sounding extremely happy and repetitive at the same time.

"We're going to start off talking about the feelings that got you all sent here. Jermaine, you can start. Tell us what _crime_ you committed, and what you were feeling when you _broke the law_" he way he said things like 'crime' and 'broke the law' made it pretty clear that even though he was being nice to them, he hadn't forgotten why they were here. To him, they were just a bunch of juvenile delinquents who he happened to be helping out. Ivy realised abruptly as silence followed the remark that she had no idea who he was talking to. The only names she knew were Ace's, Luke's and Sparky's. She was saved from looking round like an idiot when Fro spoke.

"Well damn Shrink, that's a deep question. I guess I was feeling pretty hot at the time" all the boys laughed and Ivy looked round blankly.

"What'd he do?" she whispered leaning over to Snake who was sitting next to her. He grinned.

"Blew up his principals car" he snickered, "he says it was an accident, but everyone knows it wasn't".

"Well, Jermaine, as literal as that answer was, I meant more _emotionally_. You must have had some reason behind vandalising the car"?

Fro gave a nonchalant shrug, "Back up a sec', I told y'all already I didn't do nothing to that car. It ain't my fault that it was leaking, and how was I supposed to know that the match was going to land right on the trail of petrol. It ain't vandalism, I mean he did it to himself. If he had of fixed the car up right then nothing woulda happened"

"Jermaine, the police proved that the petrol hadn't come out of the car. And if you want to become a decent member of society, then you have to stop lying to yourself. It only builds up walls that stop others from being able to get through to you".

"Yeah whatever Shrink, I was framed. That guy never liked me. He was just jealous of my hair" this caused a few more sniggers and then Federovski began to move around the circle. By the time he got to Ivy, she had well and truly zoned out and jumped slightly when he called her name.

"Huh?" she asked as Ace smirked at her, and she realised with some disappointment that she had missed his story. She bit back a sigh of frustration and looked back at Federovski.

"Your story, Ivy? What were you feeling? We're here for you".

Oh dear god. Ivy tried to pretend like she didn't hear that last sentence, it was way too pathetic. Sh frowned at him.

"I was feeling pissed off" she said bluntly and she saw Ace raise an eyebrow.

"And why were you upset Ivy?" Federovski asked calmly.

"Because I got caught" she said and most of the boys snickered. Federovski made a disapproving face and lowered his glasses slightly so he could look at ivy over the top of them.

"Now, now dear, would you care to elaborate? Could you tell us what you got caught doing perhaps".

"No. I couldn't. I don't wanna talk about it" it was a good thing she had stopped trying to be nice, because she really couldn't be bothered pretending that she actually cared what this idiot had to say. He looked at her made a soft tutting noise, before he stood up.

"I'm going to get a drink of water, I'll be right back. Don't do anything I wouldn't do children".

"Come on chica" Eight said as soon as Federovski was gone from the room "Tell us what you did, we don't care".

Ivy stared at him incredulously. He had to be kidding. Did Eight really think that she was going to tell him what had happened to her? If he did then he was delusional. "I don't think so" she said sharply, looking away from him.

"Why not?" he asked, smirking at her infuriatingly.

"Because I don't want to talk about it" she said, the tone of her voice dangerously low. Most people would have taken this as a sign to back off, but not Eight. Clearly the boy didn't know when to back off.

"Aw, poor Rock, did you beat up your boyfriend or something?" Eight snickered, and then froze when he saw the murderous look on Ivy's face. Within a second of him finishing his sentence she launched herself off her seat and was only stopped from reaching Eight by Snake and Sparky's hands grabbing her round the waist and holding her back.

"Let go of me... Let go now!" she screamed, struggling violently against their strong grips. Eight, who had, for one second, looked pretty terrified, regained his composure quickly.

"What are you gonna do Rocky, scratch me?" he laughed and leaned back in his chair nonchalantly. Ivy ignored him.

"I'm going to fucking kill you" she screamed, struggling even more against the boys holding her back. She didn't see Ace give a small nod of his head in the direction of the door, before Sparky and Snake dragged her roughly out the door. She kicked and screamed more than she ever had in her life as she tried to get back to Eight, but they didn't let go. Finally, when she was outside, and the door was firmly shut with Sparky leaning warily against it, they put her down. She let out a frustrated scream and then leaned back exhaustedly against the wall shutting her eyes. What was happening to her? She didn't lose control like that ever. And now suddenly one little comment could set her off? She gritted her teeth as her eyes opened. Snake was looking at her worriedly. She glared at him, not the slightest bit grateful that he had stopped her. She had honestly wanted to kill him. She still would if Sparky would move out of the bloody doorway. But it didn't seem like that was going to happen any time soon.She made a frustrated grunting sort of noise and turned to leave.

As she began to walk away, she could have sworn she heard yelling coming from inside, but she ignored it. She didn't really care what it was, all she could think about was murdering Eight. She didn't remember that she had missed out on whatever Federovski's surprise was. She was too terrified at just how close Eight had come to the truth with his guess.

...

**So... I had lots to say but I've only gone and totally forgotten it. I'm just so smart.**

**Okay I remembered one thing: I said in the note at the end of the last chapter that I thought I might need to edit it a bit? But well honestly, I couldn't be bothered doing that, so instead I thought I'd just say it here, since most of the people who are going to read this story have already read that chapter:**

**I know I said stuff about a surprise, but then I decided that the relationship thing with Ace and Ivy isn't really a go yet and I didn't want to have the surprise happen until they actually realise that they like each other. Otherwise it just wouldn't work and he wouldn't have any reason to be confused about the thing that happens. So I tried to bring it up in this chapter with how she just missed it, but I just wanted to clarify.**

**Ohh, and guess what else? I'm going to start a new story!! I know, shocking right hehe.**

**Yeah, well this one's going to actually have the real D-tent boys in it, so more people might actually review it LOL.**

**You guys can check it out if you want... No pressure LOL.**

**Also in my new story (which i haven't decided on a name for yet so if anyone has a cool name then you guys could totally hook me up hehe) I thought, hey wouldn't it be cool if all the chapters were based on a song? and they had like one line from a song in all of them, well if anyone has a song that they want to be in the story, then like you could review and mention it in there. That way I get reviews and you get a chapter dedicated to you?? But i mean, again, no pressure, if you don't want one, I'm good with that**

**cheers**

**xx**

**Bee**


	14. Where's Ace?

Ivy woke up feeling slightly better. She didn't notice the rather strange silence in the tent as she slowly dragged herself out of bed and got dressed; she was too busy ignoring Eight's bed. She didn't notice the awkward silence at breakfast as she munched half-heartedly on her oatmeal; she was too busy not paying attention to Eight. She didn't even notice the awkward silence as they walked out into the cool morning air to get their shovels; she was far too focused on not looking at Eight.

It wasn't until they walked out quietly onto the parched land of the desert that Ivy realised that their usual group of seven seemed to be short a few people. She looked around, confused, trying, rather ironically to find the person she had been trying so hard to ignore up until that moment, but he was nowhere in sight. But he wasn't the only one missing. A certain scruffy haired tent-leader seemed to be MIA as well, and Ivy couldn't figure out where he would be. She looked round at the others, who were all staring at the ground, looking extremely morose. Ivy frowned.

'Where's Ace?" she asked, trying not to show too much curiosity. She wasn't really meant to care that he was gone.

No one answered her question, although Fro looked up at her and opened his mouth, before shaking his head slightly and looking down. Usually ivy would have asked again, but for some reason, she stopped herself. It might have been because of the serious bad vibes she was getting from all the other boys. Whatever it was, she managed to stay silent for a long time, although she couldn't completely keep the scowl off her face. She dug away repetitively at the cracked earth that ran beneath her feet as she pondered all the possibilities of Ace's disappearance. She had to admit, there weren't very many.

It wasn't until the water truck pulled up and Ivy had had her canteen refilled that she realised that Eight hadn't even crossed her mind. As soon as she had realised that Ace was gone, she had thought about nothing else. That was seriously alarming, but it couldn't mean anything. No, she would have felt the same way about any one of them who went missing. The only reason she didn't care about Eight was because of what he said the night before.

"Where's Ace?" Ivy asked again after she had wolfed down her sandwich and biscuit. This time Snake looked up, then looked back down again. Just like last time, no one answered the question.

"Where's Ace?" Ivy asked when she was halfway done with her hole and had just drunk the last drops of water in her canteen. Sparky looked up, looked back down again and carried on digging.

"Where's Ace?" Ivy asked as a dirt covered Fro jumped out of his hole and spat in it less enthusiastically than usual. This time, much to Ivy's surprise, someone spoke.

"Just drop it Rocky" Ivy looked at Snake, and then at Sparky and finally her eyes came to rest on a rather distressed looking Fin. Her eyes opened wide at the expression on his face and she realised then that she had never seen Fin annoyed before. She couldn't stop herself from asking.

"Is he coming back?" she looked at Fin with what she hoped was an indifferent expression on her face. He looked back at her, clearly irritated.

"What do you think I meant by drop it? He didn't ask you nothing that you didn't want him to know the answer to" he said, but it lacked all conviction, simply sounding depressed. He climbed out of his hole and spat in it as well, before him and Fro turned and walked back to camp. Ivy frowned. She didn't know what Fin meant by that last comment, but she could tell she was meant to. She didn't miss the change in Fin's speech either. She wasn't sure why she noticed that he said 'nothing' instead of 'anything' but she did. Maybe the heat was getting to her. But regardless of that, she still had no idea where Ace was, or for that matter, why it bothered her so much that she didn't know when he would be back.

...

**Thanks for reading. Love you guys!**

**xx**

**Bee**


	15. Mutual agreements

Ivy finished her hole after everyone else that day and as she trudged slowly back to camp in the almost unbearable heat, she couldn't help but think about Ace. She didn't know where he might be, because where on earth in the middle of this desert could he have gone? He couldn't have run away could he? Oh dear god, what if he had, and he was out there right now, dying of thirst or crow attacks or whatever the hell you died from in a desert. No, no, no he wasn't stupid enough to do that was he? And even if he was, why would he not want her to know about that? She hadn't forgotten Fin's comments either. She couldn't for the life of her work out why he was so mad at her, but she knew that she wanted to fix whatever it was that she had done. After all, he was pretty much her best friend in this place and she couldn't really afford to lose friends. Not with people like Ace hanging around. That was a stupid thing to think of, because she had just gotten off the subject of Ace and now he was back in her head again. She hoped he was alright. In a purely self-preserving way, she decided. What on earth would they do without him? All the boys would go crazy and they wouldn't know what to do, which was the only reason that it mattered that he was alright. But god, did she hope that he was.

Ivy looked up and realised that she was back at camp, having walked almost all the way without even realising it. She took her shovel back and walked back over to the empty tent to grab a towel before going over to the showers. She jumped through quickly, not that that was unusual since four minutes wasn't exactly a long time period, but rather, quicker than normal. She got out of the undersized cubicle and hurried back to the tent with her towel, as usual, wrapped tightly around her. Only when she got back to the cabin, it wasn't empty. Eight was lying unresponsively on his bed, his orange hat covering his face.

"Shit!" Ivy cried as she pulled the towel tighter around her, "What the hell are you doing here"? Eight, didn't look at her, which although she didn't have a problem with that, surprised her hugely. If anyone would have seized this opportunity, she thought it would have been Eight. Apparently not today though; he didn't even take the hat off his face.

"Hey, Rocky... what's up?" he asked monotonously not tearing his eyes away from the ceiling.

"Um, could you get out maybe? Just a thought, but I was kind of wanting to get dressed" she said angrily, ignoring the dull tone to his voice, too annoyed about last night to even notice anything else. He still didn't look at her. She wondered what was so immensely interesting about the inside of his hat.

"Sure" he muttered, rolling off the bed. He stood up to go and Ivy glared at him. Then she gasped and very nearly dropped her towel.

"Holy- Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to your face?" she practically screamed. His left eye was almost completely closed, the swelling around it forcing it shut, his lip was split and he had a nasty looking bruise on his right cheek along with what looked like a broken nose. Eight looked back at her and she saw a flicker of emotion cross his face but it was gone almost instantly.

"Chica, I don't know what you're on about" he said, a slight trace of the usual Eight back in his voice. He tried to smile, but he winced quickly and stopped. Ivy just stared at him as he disappeared out of the tent, without another word. She had never seen anyone looking so bad before. Well that wasn't strictly true, but she didn't like to talk about that other time.

She got dressed in an almost trance like state, the image of Eight's face stuck in her mind. What on earth could have happened to him to leave him looking like that? Who would do something like that to him? If someone had of told her that happened last night she would have been glad, but now that she had had a chance to calm down, she couldn't believe it. If she ever found out who beat up Eight so bad... Well, she didn't know what she would do, but it wouldn't be good.

She left the tent and walked to the wreck room, where she knew the boys would be. She wanted to talk to Fin, and find out what exactly she had done to make him so mad before. She knew it had something to do with Ace, but she couldn't work out what. Well, whatever it was, she was planning on fixing it.

When she went into the room, she saw the boys over by the pool table like she expected. They were getting a lot of strange looks, she assumed because of Eight who was at that moment sitting muttering quietly to someone who's back was to Ivy, although their hair did look slightly familiar. Eight's face split into a small brief and extremely painful looking smile as he reached forward and grasped the boys shoulder good-naturedly. Ivy got closer, and the hair became even more familiar, but it couldn't be...

"Ace!" she exclaimed happily, before realising what she had just done and clapping her hands over her mouth quickly. He turned around slowly and Ivy saw that his face held the same smirk that it always had.

"Well hey there Rock" he said, and she noticed something strange about his voice. It was low and gravely, a lot like the way people's voices sounded right after they lost them. But what on earth could Ace have been doing to lose his voice? "Miss me then?" Ivy dropped her hands and glared at him.

"No" she scoffed, "I was just shocked to see you. I was kind of hoping that you were going to stay away. It was nice not having you here annoying me all day".

"That's a pity ain't it, 'cause I was really looking forward to seeing you" he said sarcastically, "I was thinking we could change your name to Charming cause you're so bloody lovely all the time".

"Yeah that would be great" she retorted, "And then you could have Rocky for yourself, because yesterday morning you were pretty har-"

"Okay Princess, time for you to shut up now" he said, jumping up off the couch that he and Eight were sitting on and gripping Ivy tightly by the upper arm as he escorted her rather roughly towards the door.

"Ow, get off me" she cried, pushing him away from her, but he didn't let go. "Let go, you're hurting me" she yelled louder, drawing a few of the eyes in the room onto them. He continued dragging her, until he had pulled her right out the door and slammed it behind them. Then he let go of her arm and leaned back against the wall with a loud groan.

"Where were you today?" she asked as soon as the door was shut.

"I had shit to do, which, coincidentally, ain't got nothing whatsoever to do with you" he said, closing his eyes and massaging his temples, looking extremely aggravated.

"Do you know what happened to Eight?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him, which was a slightly futile gesture, since his eyes remained firmly shut.

"Nope"

"Do you know why Fin's mad at me?"

"Can't say that I do"

Ivy let out a frustrated groan and stamped her foot. Ace opened his eyes and grinned at her.

"Are you done with the questions now?" he asked, his voice still annoyingly gravely.

"No... You still haven't told me where you were" she murmured, looking up at him expectantly.

"Come on Rock, you should know better than anyone not to push people when they don't wanna tell you something" he warned, looking straight back at her. She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again. It would, after all, be just the slightest bit hypocritical if she kept asking him after what she had done the night before.

"Okay" she muttered, looking away from his surprisingly penetrating gaze. He didn't say anything for a while and Ivy wasn't really sure what to do.

"Well this is really something" Ace murmured after the long pause, "Our Rocky not arguing with something? I'm impressed" She looked back up with a slight smile on her face.

"Yeah, well I'm trying this new thing where I don't be mean to you" she told him, and he raised his eyebrows.

"I'm guessing this ain't a one-way thing right?" he questioned and she shrugged and paused for a second thinking.

"It doesn't have to be..." she told him, the smile growing minutely on her face "friends?"

Ace looked at her for a few seconds, with a pensive look on his face. Then he grinned.

"Yeah, I guess I can work with that... on one condition"

"what?" she asked sceptically.

"You don't go bringin' up what happened yesterday. Ever" he said and he sounded uncommonly serious. The smile grew a little more.

"I guess I can work with that" she grinned and stuck her hand out to Ace. He winked back at her as he shook her hand. Maybe getting through the next thirteen months wouldn't be quite as tough as she had thought.

...

**Well, that wasn't too short now was it?**

**Hehe I'm impressed with myself, although i have to say, I don't really like the chapter. Way too much happens and it's really confusing so I'm going to make a list of all the things I haven't sorted out and if I forget anything then you guys can tell me:**

**-What Ivy did**

**-What Ace did**

**-Where Ace was**

**-What happened to Eight's face**

**-That surprise that Shrink had that we never found out about**

**- Where the nicknames came from (I'll only do the ones that people specifically ask me to do, so if you want to know one then you'll have to tell me)**

**That's all I can think of. I know there's the Luke being mad at her thing, but that gets sorted out between Where Ace went and What happened to Eights face.**

**Okay, that's all I can think of.**

**except, reviews are always dead helpful hint, hint. Especially reviews from people who don't happen to be the two coolest people on the planet who review my story all the time. Not that I don't love it when you two review, but you know what I mean.**

cheers

xx

Q. Bee


	16. Too many birthdays

"_What are you doing?" she called nervously over the river, watching as he began to take off his shirt. He laughed_

"_Swimming. What does it look like V?"_

"_Be careful". He laughed some more._

"_You worry too much" his broad smile spread right across his face._

"_Just about you. You need someone to watch out for you" she replied, but she stopped all the same and sat down resignedly on the bank. He made a big splash when he hit the water, soaking Ivy thoroughly. She let out a loud screech as he came back up to the surface and when he caught sight of her, he burst out laughing._

"_You're lucky it's your birthday" she told him, grabbing his towel from the ground beside her and drying her hair with it._

"_If it means I get to spend some time with you then I agree" he said, and there was a serious tone to his voice, "I feel like I never see you anymore. You're always out with that what's-his-name guy. I don't like it Iv. Seriously". She frowned but she couldn't really think of a reply, mostly because what he said was exactly true. _

"_His name's Jono... And I still like you more" she ventured hopefully and he gave a grin that didn't quite reach his eye._

"_Course you do" he said, pretending like he didn't care that she was trying to make a joke out of it._

"_It won't be for forever. Just for the next month or so. We have... stuff we have to do together" she said, hoping that that explanation would be enough for him._

"_Stuff, hm? Seems like there's a lot of that to do lately" he said, diving back under the water and when he came back up, he was looking serious again."Just take your own advice. Be careful. I'm not gonna lecture you, I just don't want you getting mixed up in _stuff_ that you can't deal with". Ivy didn't _

_know what to say. He was definitely getting better at saying things she couldn't answer. She knew what he wanted her to say, but she couldn't say it._

"_It'll be done soon" she told him calmly, looking at him apologetically. He didn't miss the fact that she hadn't denied that she couldn't handle it and he shook his head with a frustrated sigh._

"_I love you, you know that? So do Mom and Dad. Don't do this to them" it was his last attempt._

"_I love you too. But I already got you a present, I'm not planning on doing anything for them"._

_And then he let out a scream, arms flailing violently as he was dragged downwards by some invisible force until he disappeared under the water. _

And Ivy woke with a sharp intake of breath. When she saw where she was she relaxed slightly, slumping back against the back of her bed.

"Holy shit" she panted, holding a hand to her chest. That was the seventh night in a row that she had had that dream. Ever since the night that she and Ace had decided to be 'friends', she had had the same nightmare and the same bad feeling of foreboding. She'd never had anything like that happen to her before and she was dead confused as to what could be happening. She didn't know why that day from nearly a year ago kept replaying in her head. Or why the ending had changed so much.

She sat there in her bed, a slight sweat breaking out on her forehead. She needed to get home, to make sure that he was alright. She couldn't live with herself if something had happened to him. He was her whole world. The other people back home, they didn't matter, but if something anything, was wrong with him, she needed to be there to sort it out. But maybe nothing was wrong. Maybe it was just her over active imagination. That must be it. She needed more to distract her. She could learn to play pool a bit better. God, with all the time she had here, she'd be a professional by the time she got out of here. Maybe she could find a nice guy.

Maybe not. It was a strange thought to her that in her home town, she had managed to get almost every guy there, but now that she was locked up with a bunch of them, she couldn't find any one that liked her, or that she liked for that matter. Well, there was... No, no way, she was not going to go there. That was ground that she didn't want to be walking on right there. She couldn't think of any other ways to pass the time constructively. There wasn't really a whole lot to do around here. Life with a bunch of juvenile delinquents wasn't really as exciting as you would expect it to be. Things got pretty monotonous after awhile. This dream business was really the most interesting thing that had happened of late. What she couldn't figure out was why, after almost a year of having nothing to do with him, he suddenly began to come up in her dreams. She shrugged it off; it would go away soon enough.

After that she fell back into a dreamless sleep and didn't wake until the loud trumpeting noise came from outside. And even then she didn't think of the idea until much later, when Snake entered the dining room exclaiming loudly about how it was his birthday.

"Fin" she murmured leaning over to him, "What's the date"? He looked back at her, perplexed.

"I don't know, the 28th I think?" he answered.

"The 28th of what" she asked, not because she didn't know but because she couldn't believe that she would be that out of sync.

"July"

"Oh... Thanks" she muttered, looking away from him and down to her plate, where she began to play with her oatmeal. She couldn't believe she forgot it. Today was her brother's birthday, the last day she had talked to him for a year. The last day before she got irrevocably mixed up in the events that ultimately left her exactly where she was sitting at that moment.

...

**Okay so before i go any further and forget to say this: If you're like me and you don't read the annoying italic bits that are like dreams or flashbacks, then go back and read it now, because this is probably the most crucial part of the story so far. The rest has been all Ivy & Ace, but this is Ivy and her brother, who will be mega important so you want to read this if you want to understand the story.**

**Okay so this is pretty much the turning point in the story, there are a few new story lines being introduced, and I would have gone back and written the brother in earlier, but I had already published the other bits that had anything to do with this. **

**I don't know what i can say without giving away the story so I'm just going to say much more, but I'm really excited because now the story actually has a direction, which it didnt have before! yay haha**

**love yaz!**

**xx**

**Q Bee**


	17. letter

Dear Mac,

I can't really think how to start this letter. There's a lot to say and I'm not really sure how to say it. I'm not even sure you know where I am right now, but you probably saw it in the newspaper... if anyone in that house was going to read it, it would be you. You were always so bloody smart.

I know I haven't been in touch for a while. Okay, a little more than a while. I miss you. So much you wouldn't believe it. It's been a year today, but I remember it like it was yesterday. Honestly. I dreamt about you last night. I don't blame you for not dreaming about me. What I did to you, well, there aren't really words for it, but I would hate me too. I understand if you do, but I just had to write, to make sure you were okay. I really hope you are. I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt. I care about you so much, and I get it if you don't believe me, because, well you know why. I'd rather not go into it again.

I just need you to know... I miss you, and I'm sorry. So sorry. It's okay if you don't forgive me, but I needed you to know. I think about you sometimes, at night when all the stars come out. There are so many stars here, you would love it. Do you remember that time at the river, when we camped there and you told me you wanted to be an astronaut? I remember. We were so young then. That was before everything went wrong. It was all my fault and I'm so sorry. I can't say it enough. I'm sorry that I hurt you, I'm sorry that I screwed up your future and I'm even sorry that I hurt Mom and Dad. You can tell them that if you want. I don't mind.

I love you kid... Forever and ever.

_Ivy_

_xoxo_

...

**Short but sweet**

**love ya**

**xx**


	18. Getting protective

"Whatever, she's been crying and shit all week" Sparky said, aiming a ball of paper at an empty bucket sitting in the middle of the tent.

"She hasn't cried once" Fin protested, picking up the ball of paper and throwing it back to him.

"Crying, talking, same thing" Sparky muttered, missing the bucket again. He looked over to Ace who was lying casually on his bed, not joining in with the conversation.

"I heard her talking in her sleep last night" Eight said, looking round the tent with a superior look on his face.

'What'd she say?" Asked Snake, leaning closer to Eight from his position on the floor next to his bed.

"Some guys name. Mac or something. Must be her boyfriend".

"Nah bro, she ain't got a boyfriend" Fro said, lifting the cap from where it had been resting over his face blocking out the light.

"How do you know?" Eight asked incredulously.

"Cause, her and that kid from 'A' tent are pretty close if you know what I mean" He smirked, raising his eyebrows.

"Shut up man, you know she's not doing anything with any of the 'A' tent guys" Fin reprimanded and finally Ace decided to join in the conversation.

"Why are you so bloody protective of her? Does little Fin have a bit of a crush on our Rock?" he asked, in a babyish tone and all the other boys laughed.

"Ohhh, look who's talking about protective" muttered Fin sullenly. There was a sudden chilling silence in the tent.

"What'd you just say?" Ace asked, his tone cold as ice.

"Nothing" Fin said hurriedly, looking down at the ground and fiddling nervously with one of the cuffs of his jumpsuit. Ace didn't say anything for a few seconds, and Fin could feel his eyes still on him, then the tension seemed to relax.

"Damn right. Have some fucking respect for your elders" he muttered only slightly jokingly, lying back down on is bed and pulling his cap down over his eyes. Fin let out the breath that he had been holding in until that moment. Snake jumped up, eager to relieve the hostility.

"I'm goin' to have a shower. Who wants to come?" he smirked and was immediately bombarded by pillows.

"That's inappropriate that is" said Fro, smirking, "there's kids in this room boy".

"Yeah, whatever, you're just jealous" he grinned, grabbing a towel and flicking Fro in the head with it, before sprinting out of the tent. Fro yelled something and threw another pillow after him, but he didn't get up to chase him.

Ivy walked in, drying her wet hair vigorously with a towel and looking out the door, after the fleeing Snake.

"Um... What did I miss?" she asked bewilderedly.

"Nothing" all the boys said in unison. Ivy raised an eyebrow and sighed.

"Right" she muttered, sitting down on her bed. Clearly being in with the other tent members didn't mean that they told you everything, because Ivy had been feeling pretty out of the loop lately. She had been waiting all week for a reply to her letter, but she hadn't gotten one. This probably shouldn't have worried her as much as it did, since for her to have a reply by then would have meant he had to write back in about two days of getting the letter, and she was pretty sure it was going o take a while for him to adjust to the shock of actually getting a letter from her. That or he just didn't want to answer, which seemed like the more likely option of the two. God knows, if Ivy had of been in his place, she wouldn't have answered, but... she had hoped. Mikey wasn't the type to hold a grudge, but in this circumstance, maybe it was understandable. Well, whatever the reason, she could wait. She would wait as long as it took for him to forgive her.

...

**Sooo...**

**next chapter is a biggie!! As in heee-uge!**

**Seriously LOL, though it's the main chapter in the story. I've already written it, or most of it, that's why it took me so long to post this chapter... beause I didn't want to get it up until I knew for sure what was happening in the next chapter. Its huge for Ace and ivy and it's the start of the main story line! hehe finally. it only took like 18000 words**

**But...**

**I have a few problems... well just one actually: **

**So far a grand total of 2 different people have reviewed this story. I've looked at the stats and as it turns out, more than 2 people are reading this unless childhood-disruption and Miss-Paparella are just going round to other countries and readng the story again and again. Which for some reason I doubt.**

**So I have some rules for you:**

**I'm not putting up the next chapter until I get at least three reviews (from three different people). and that's final.**

**It'll only take you two seconds, and you're helping all the people who want to read the story.**

**Ill love you forever**

**LOL**

**Luv ya (specially the reviewers)****xxx****Bee.**


	19. Just friends

"I just don't get it" Ivy moaned, collapsing frustratedly onto the couch, "It's too hard".

"Aw, come on Rock, it ain't that hard" Sparky said encouragingly. This was the third day in a row of trying to teach Ivy pool and all of their attempts seemed to be failing dismally. As well as not understanding the rules, she seemed incapable of actually hitting any of the balls. Even the white one.

"But it's stupid. Why can't I just hit the little ones into the holes? Why does it have to be one of the big ones?" she asked incredulously.

"'Cause you're stripes" Snake said, rolling his eyes and leaning against the side of the pool table.

"Maybe I shold-" Eight began.

"No!" all the others said exasperatedly. Another thing that Ivy had learned was how Eight got his nickname. As it turned out, Eight had a complete inability to hit in any of the balls except the eight ball, which he seemed to manage to do on his first hit every time.

"Whatever, it's stupid game" she muttered as she stood up again and walked over to the table. She tied up her hair and undid her jumpsuit, tying it around her hips. She picked up a cue and then stopped, staring perplexedly at it. "I don't even know how to hold this thing". Most of the boys groaned.

"No wonder she ain't gettin' it. You lot are the worst teachers I've ever seen" Ace said from his sprawled position on the couch.

"Well you do it then, if you're so bloody fabulous" Sparky glared.

"Maybe I will" Ace said, standing up and grabbing the cue off Sparky who gave a loud sigh of relief and sat down on the couch.

"You do it like this" Ace said, leaning down and demonstrating how to hold the cue. Ivy frowned. When she had decided to learn to play, she hadn't expected it to be so confusing. She had never even thought that the game had rules.

"Like this?" she asked, leaning down over the table and copying Ace's position. He grinned.

"More like this" he said, coming over behind her and putting his arm casually round her so he could push her left hand further along the cue. Ivy felt an involuntary thrill run along her arm. What was that? Since when did she get chills when Ace touched her? This was very, very bad. They were friends. They had agreed on that; there was no way she was going to be the one to stuff it up. They had even had a few nice conversations lately and this was not going to help things. She ignored it, hoping that it would go away.

Suddenly his hand was on her hip and he turned her so she was standing on the right angle. She caught her breath involuntarily and tightened her grip on the cue when his hand made contact with the bare skin on her hip and the tingling from before came back ten times stronger. Ace's hand moved away so quickly it seemed like she burned him. She stood up quickly, moving back and looking at him with her eyes wide. What was that about? What did she do? This was just fabulous. Now he thought that she was in love with him or something and he was freaking out. She should have just ignored it, she knew she should of. Now she had gone and screwed everything up. Trust her to do that. She wanted to melt into the floor, or anything to get out of there.

"Rock-" he began, but he never got to finish his sentence.

"No, no, don't um, don't worry about it, it wasn't your fault. I think I'm gonna go" she said quickly, turning and almost running out of the room.

Ace watched her go and gave a frustrated groan, running a hand over his face. What did he just do? All the other boys watched her with mixed expressions on their faces. Fin looked worried, while Snake and Eight looked extremely confused and Fro just grinned like he was about to burst out laughing. Sparky wasn't looking at Ivy. He was looking at Ace and wondering how exactly his friend had let everything around him get so messed up. One month with this girl and the old Ace had completely disappeared. What on earth was going to happen after two years?

Ace muttered some rather colourful things under his breath and reoccupied his old seat on the couch. He had just ruined everything. He hadn't meant to pull away, but when his skin touched Ivy's he had felt the strangest shivering feeling go up his arm. Stuff like that didn't happen to him. And now that it was he was, well, he was ... _scared_. And Ace didn't do scared. Ever. But now she thought he hated her or something. He saw the look on her face before she ran off. She thought he was mental. Maybe he was: god knew she was doing something to his head. But he had felt her flinch when he touched her, so how was any of this his fault? If she didn't even want him near her then why did she care.

He decided that really it didn't matter. If Ivy was upset, he needed to go and find her, to make it up. That was part of what the friends thing meant.

"I'm goin' to find her" Fin announced, but Ace put hand on his shoulder.

"Nah, don't sweat it kid, I've got it" He murmured quietly so only Fin could hear, and then he walked out of the room to the tent. She was in there just like he expected, lying face down on her bed. He went over and sat down in the empty space on the bed next to her. He wasn't really sure what to say. He didn't want to get all heavy on her, but he didn't want it to seem like he didn't care.

"Hey" he said, his voice gravelly and Ace wondered if he was nervous. He doubted it, but with Ivy, you never knew what might happen. She didn't turn over, but he felt her tense slightly beside him.

"Listen... Rocky, I'm-"

"Don't apologise Ace, you didn't do anything" she interrupted, rolling over and looking up at him. There was a silence following that, where they both stared at each other for a few seconds.

"I don't hate you and that" Ace muttered, at the same time as Ivy murmured,

"I'm not in love with you or anything". Both of their eyes opened wide as they gave each other incredulous looks.

"What?" Ivy said, her voice a little too high pitched for her liking.

"Woah there chick, who said anything about you bein' in love with me?" Ace questioned.

"I just thought... You know, with the hand and the... Oh you know what I mean" she said, looking down and away from his eyes.

"You thought, I thought... Wow. That ain't exactly what I was thinkin' when I did it" he said, thoughtfully, still looking at her even though she was looking awkwardly everywhere but at his face.

"Well what were you thinking?" Ivy muttered, looking back up to his eyes. Ace didn't speak, he just stared at her, drinking in every detail of her face, because he had just made the most shocking discovery of his life. Ace was considering the fact that he might, just possibly, be... in love with Ivy. But he wasn't sure if he could tell her. He didn't even realise as his face began to move down closer to hers. The same way she didn't realise that she was pushing herself up off the bed to meet him.

"I think we should just be friends" Ivy murmured softly, but she didn't stop moving.

"Yeah, just friends, right" Ace muttered back huskily, but he was still inching ever closer. Their faces were only centimetres apart... Millimetres. Ivy heart had begun to beat so fast she thought it was about to jump out of her chest. Ace had stopped breathing all together.

And then the flap of the tent opened and they jumped apart so quickly that Ace almost fell off the bed. Federovski head peeped into the tent. Ivy could see a boy of average height with closely cropped light brown hair standing behind him.

And then he said the one sentence that would change both of their lives forever.

"Ah, Joel, and Ivy my dear, meet Tyler. Tyler Jenks".

...

**Hehe, there you go.**

**The promised chapter. I'm home sick today so I'm gonna try and write as much as I can.**

**And by the way. Those reviews were pretty speedy LOL.**

**I woke up and turned the laptop on and there were like 6 new ones.**

**Thanks to _lyricsandlies_**

**INSANExKONEKO, I think I can forgive you for not reviewing every chapter. LOL, there are 18 of them. Well now there's 19.**

**I hope everyone liked that. It took me like two hours, so you better.**

**Luv ya**

**thanks for reading**

**xx**

**Bee**


	20. Jack

"Ace?" asked the boy as soon as he had walked through the door and Ivy heard a strong English accent. He stared at Ace who, after a few seconds where he looked to be in shock, rose from the bed and walked over to the boy grinning and they grasped shoulders in an extremely guy-like way that made Ivy want to laugh. Federovski, raised his eyebrow and left.

"Jack" he muttered, as they shared a smirk. Ivy frowned. Jack? Hadn't Federovski said the boys name was Tyler?

"I didn't expect to see you here. I thought you were in prison" the boy said curiously, not looking away from Ace.

"Yeah, well, what can I say? I got let off easy. I ain't compainin'" he said and Ivy detected the note of bitterness in his voice.

"And rightly so. You've missed a lot you know" The guy told him, as Ace walked over to his own bed and sat down, then gestured to the empty bed across the room and the other boy sat down gratefully.

"I figured. We ain't gotta talk about all that now though" he said, and Ivy didn't miss the look he shot in her direction, "Why don't we go and meet the others". Tyler/ Jack nodded slowly, but he wasn't looking at Ace anymore. He was looking at Ivy.

"Let's start here" he said, grinning, "Who's this enchanting young lady"? Ivy raised an eyebrow, and looked down at the floor uncomfortably. For some reason, that sentence didn't sound stupid when he said it, even though it sounded like a bad line from a movie in the 80's.

"D'you reckon you could give the Shakespeare bullshit a rest?" Ace muttered, rolling his eyes. "That's Rocky".

"Well hello Rocky" he said, and Ivy looked up to see a small smile on his face. And she was shocked to see that it wasn't a smirk but a real, honest to god, smile. It had been a long time since she had seen one of those.

"Hi" she said, and her voice sounded so crude to her after listening to him so she didn't say anything else. She just stared at his face, which was almost as gorgeous as his voice. He looked refined. Another thing Ivy hadn't seen since her arrival at Camp Green Lake. She knew she should be wary of this smooth talking, good looking boy, but she couldn't seem to focus on any one thing about him long enough to become suspicious. And besides, there was no way he could be any worse than any of the other boys here.

"Do you think you could introduce me to the other boys? I don't want to distract Ace from all the important things that I'm sure he has to do right now" he said. Until then, Ivy had forgotten that Ace was even in the room. When she looked over at him then, he was looking pointedly at Tyler, who was grinning back at him.

"Unless... you don't mind do you Ace?" Ivy was shocked to hear that he sounded serious. Usually that comment would have been a sarcastic one, just to wind Ace up. Not that her talking to Tyler would upset Ace in the slightest.

"'Course I don't mind" he said, still not looking at her. If she hadn't of known better she would have thought she saw his jaw clenching. But she knew there was no way he would be doing that just because of her. But maybe she should make sure.

"You can do it if you want Ace" she said, trying to make her voice as nice as she could so he didn't get mad at her. He didn't look at her and Ivy got the distinct impression that he was annoyed, although she couldn't work out why.

"Nah go ahead Rock. You tow have fun" he said and before she could reply, or ask him what was wrong Tyler had stood up and taken Ivy's hand lightly.

"Excellent" he said, smiling at Ivy and she couldn't stop herself from smiling back. She had to admit, she had never really appreciated boys who spoke in proper English until she got sent here. That was what she got for getting sent to a place where all the boys said 'ain't', 'damn' and 'you know how it is' all the time. Now meeting one who didn't was like a breath of fresh air.

"So what did you do?" she asked when they were outside the tent. He looked back at her with a small secretive smile on his face.

"I'm not sure if I should tell you" he with a small laugh. "It might scare you". Ivy giggled and tucked a loosed strand of hair behind her ear.

"I think I can handle it" she said, smiling and rolling her eyes at him.

"Well okay, but you asked for it... I killed someone" he said ominously and looked at her waiting for her reaction.

"You're lying" she said, as she stopped walking and he shook his head.

"It was self defence of course, but the court didn't believe me. It was for my little brother, only now he's left alone because I got myself sent here" he said, looking away and shoving his hands into his pockets. Ivy felt a sudden pang of sadness.

"That's horrible" she said, trying to keep her voice steady, "I know exactly what you mean. My little brother, he's, I jus- I know what you mean". She sounded stupid, even to herself. She wanted to hit herself in the head, but she didn't really want to look insane in front of Tyler.

He looked back up at her and gave a forced smile. "You have a brother"? She nodded hesitantly, not sure if she wanted to talk about him.

"Yeah, but I don't really, I mean we don't talk anymore". Tyler's raised his eyebrows and he nodded understandingly.

"So then, Rocky, what did you do?" he asked her and she felt her body tense against her will.

"I'd rather not talk about it, she said, looking away.

"Oh, right, of course. Sure , you choose a topic then, I don't want to intrude" he said calmly.

"How 'bout your name?" she asked, realising that she still hadn't worked out the Jack/Tyler thing, "I know Shrink called you Tyler, but then I thought Ace called you Jack"? He grinned.

"He did. That's what everyone calls me. Jack, it's sort of a nickname. Well, it's not sort of, it _is_ a nickname. It not Jack the name, it's Jack the card." he said, pausing and looking at her with an almost excited look on his face.

"A card? I don't understand" she tried to keep her voice level, but an idea had occurred to her that she couldn't help but be excited about. He paused even longer, like he was about to tell her a big secret.

"Tell me Rocky, have you ever heard of the-"

"Yo, Rocky, where are you goin'?" Fro called as he and Snake appeared out of the Wreck room. Rocky realised that she during her conversation with Jack (she had decided to go with his name being Jack) she had stopped paying any attention to where they were going, and they were at that moment headed out towards the desert.

"Snake, Fro" she called trying not to let the disappointment show through in her voice, "Come over here for a sec". They looked at each other sceptically and then walked over, looking curiously at Jack.

"Who this?" Snake asked, looking jack up and down as though he was working out whether or not he could beat him in a fight. Knowing Snake, he probably was.

"This is Jack" Ivy said, halting herself from telling Snake to stop what he was doing. She seemed to be getting quite protective of Jack. This was probably a bad thing but Ivy didn't really care.

Fro gave an accepting grin and nodded his head in acknowledgement. Snake didn't. He just looked at Jack with a cold expression on his face and then turned around and walked off, followed by Fro, who gave jack an apologetic shrug and ran after him.

"Wow. I feel so loved" muttered Jack, grinning at Ivy. She wasn't sure what to say. She wanted to say that that was just how Snake always was, but it wasn't. He was the nicest to her when she got here. She couldn't work out why Snake didn't like Jack, but she would. She didn't get why one of the boys always seemed to need to hate someone. They were worse than a bunch of teenage girls.

"Um... He'll get over it" she decided on that reasonably safe, and hopefully true sentence. After all, how wrong could she be?

She forgot about her and Jack's conversation prior to the interruption. She was too distracted by Snakes interesting reaction to their new tent mate. It wasn't until late at night when she came back to the tent and all the boys were still gone that she remembered it.

She waited for them to come back, hoping that she didn't forget again.

The tent flap opened and she watched eagerly as someone appeared through the door. It wasn't Jack though, much to Ivy's vexation. It was Ace's shaggy brown head that came into the tent. At first her face fell, when she realised that Jack still hadn't come back. It took her all of two seconds to notice the state of undress that Ace was in. He had a towel and was drying his hair, which was soaking wet, so clearly he had just been in the shower. He had his jumpsuit hanging loosely around his waist and his shirt was nowhere in sight. If Ivy was the type of person who blushed she would have done that then, only she wasn't, and so she kept her face the normal shade. She did however stare with great interest at the perfectly toned muscles in his stomach, and the way his arms and chest were heavily tanned and the small droplets of water that were running down, into his jumpsuit and-

"Rocky" someone barked, and she looked up with a start to see Snake standing in the door, smirking at her. He was biting his lip to stop himself from laughing. She hadn't even seen him come in with Ace. Ace looked around at Snake and gave him a strange look.

"What are you yellin' about boy?" he smirked, running his towel quickly over his upper body, and Ivy was glad to see that he seemed less angry than he had earlier. Snake gave him an innocent look, which he managed to pull off surprisingly well considering how guilty he was.

"Nothin'... Just glad to see our little Rock, that's all" he said, walking over to Ivy and pinching her cheek jokingly. She slapped his hand away and rolled her eyes at him.

"Don't call me little; I'm taller than you, you know" she laughed. Snake walked over to his bed and sat down while Ace pulled on a t-shirt.

"So... You and Jack seem close" Snake said, trying to sound casual and failing dismally.

"What? I don't even know him" she replied, studying her nails with great concentration.

"Damn right, bloody dodgy Spa-"

"Now I know you're too smart to go sayin' what I think you're about to say, ain't you boy" Ace said, and Ivy heard something she had never heard before. Ace sounded almost... No, Ace sounded scary. There was no almost in that sentence. Snake's eyes opened wide and he looked more frightened than Ivy had ever seen him. He thought quickly, Ivy gave him credit for that, because whatever he had been about to say, he changed it quickly.

"Course I ain't" he said, running a hand awkwardly over his chin, "I was gonna say bloody dodgy Sparky... 'Cause a what he was on about before right"?

"What was he talking about before?" Ivy asked, wanting to get off the subject of whatever they had just been talking about. As curious as she was, Ace seemed far too close to the subject to bring it up while he was there.

"Nothin' you need to know about" Snake said, the grin tentatively spreading across his face, "Stuff's way too vulgar for chicks to hear".

"Snake, can you even spell vulgar?" Ivy laughed. His grin grew.

"Nope" he sniggered, and Ivy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that was a rhetorical question Snake"

"Can't spell that either" he said and she laughed, rolling her eyes and then lying down on her bed. The tent opened again. She didn't look up.

"Hi Ace... Snake" someone said and she recognised the English accent.

"Jack" she cried, not meaning to seem as eager as she did. She sat up and grinned at him. He smiled back. She heard Snake gag, but she ignored him.

"I was waiting for you to come back, I wanted to talk to you" she said and Ace stood up.

"I just remembered, I forgot that thing, in that place and I have to go get it" he muttered quickly and strolled casually out the door. Snake stood up too.

"I just don't like you" he said to Jack and then walked out the door. Jack didn't say anything, just smirked and waved exaggeratedly to Snake who made some rather interesting hand gestures back.

"What did you want to talk to me about then babe?" Ivy didn't even notice the 'babe' that he chucked in there. He made it sound respectful, rather than derogatory, which was quite an accomplishment. It would have annoyed her with anyone else, but with him it was just something he would say.

"You remember earlier when we were talking and then Fro interrupted us?" he nodded and she continued. "What were you going to say?"

He gave a crooked sort of smile that Ivy thought was extremely cute, although she didn't plan on telling him that. "I don't know if I can tell you" he admitted. Ivy pouted, tilting her head on the side.

"Please?" she simpered, twirling her hair around her finger. He gave a chuckle.

"No, I really don't think it's a good idea". Ivy, sighed frustratedly.

"Fine... I'm going to sleep" she said, lying down on her bed and burrowing under the covers.

Jack smirked once she was completely engufled by the sheets.

This was going to be too easy.

...

**So who likes Jack?? haha**

**I think that I might have almost explained a lot of stuff in that chapter, but at the same time, I didn't actually explain anything, because more stuff has to happen before i explain _anything_.**

**Snake makes me laugh, even though I wrote it haha.**

**And I just thought I'd say, because i know by now I would be getting annoyed, everything will get sorted out soon.**

**I'm making another things to get sorted out list, so you can tell me if I'm forgetting to explain something:**

**What Ace did**

**What Ivy did**

**What Jack did**

**What do Ace and Jack have to do with eachother**

**What was Jack going to say to Ivy**

**Why doesn't Snake like Jack (this is really unimportant, and it'll get sorted out between other plots)**

**What does Ivy's brother have to do with anything at all lol.**

**Oh and the whole what happened to Eights face thing, but that's totally irrelevant and kind of not gonna happen the way I planned it.**

**Why was Ace threatening Snake (more improtant than you probably think it is)**

**and lastly... Why is Jack called Jack?**

**Wow. wow. that's a pretty impressive list haha.**

**I'm gonna stop now so i can write more of the actuall story rather than talking about writing it hehe**

**cheers**

**xx**

**Bee**


	21. Fight club

Ivy collapsed exhaustedly onto one of the couches in the wreck room, pushing Sparky and Fro to the sides so she could fit. The shuffled over grudgingly.

"What about me?" Snake asked, pretending to pout, when there was no room left for him on the couch. Ivy stuck her tongue out at him.

"Too bad" she said, and then let out a loud shriek as Snake sat down right on top of her. She shoved at him roughly, but couldn't move him. He sat completely still laughing at her and she glared back.

"Get off me" she shrieked, but she was laughing.

"Aw, you're just gutted, 'cause I ain't A-, Jack" he smirked, hoping that no one had noticed his slight slip up. Ivy heard, it but she ignored it and continued to push at Snake.

"Oh yeah, it's really breaking my heart" she said, giving one last shove, before grunting and lying back against the couch. Snake laughed and flicked her on the nose.

It was about that time when the boys from B tent showed up. Ivy recognised the one at the front of the group; he was the boy from her first day who tried (and failed) to hit on her. She glared at him as he stood over them scowling.

"Can you two get a room, no one wants to see that shit" he said, glowering at Ivy. She stared back, unperturbed. The insult, if you could call it that, seemed to have bounced right off him, because he was looking almost happier than before.

"Somone's jealous" sang Fro jokingly, and the boy turned his glare on him.

"What's there to be jealous of? Look at you lot" he spat. Fin was starting to look decidedly uncomfortable, unlike Snake and Fro, who seemed to be itching for a fight. Sparky sat attentively, ready to join in if anything happened, but not desperate to get involved. Ivy just gave the boy a condescending look.

"Right, because that's really offensive coming from someone who looks like you" she smirked, looking down to inspect her nails. The boy took a step closer to her in what she guessed was meant to be a menacing way, but it just pissed her off.

"What'd you say about me"? Ivy rolled her eyes and stood, up taking a step towards him so that they were practically nose to nose.

"If I was you, I'd get out of here, unless you want to get beaten up by a girl... Again" she added, winking at him, and all the boys sitting behind her laughed. The boys behind him glared warningly at her.

"Is there a problem here?" Ivy recognised Ace's voice and she opened her mouth to tell him to go away, but the other boy beat her to it.

"Damn right there's a problem" he spluttered, "Your tent whore over here is pissing me off". Ace raised his eyebrows calmly, surveying the boy, and despite the smirk Ivy saw something in his eyes that made her tense in excitement. Something was about to happen, she could feel it.

"I'm only gonna say this once" he said, his voice low, and under control, but dangerous all the same, ""You have two seconds to take that back".

The boy looked at him sceptically. "Or what?" he snorted, and his tent mates laughed. Ace turned around to Jack, who was standing close behind him.

"Diddya hear that one Jacky, mate? Pretty fuckin' funny right"? Bam, Ace fist connected with the boy's face, and punched him continuously, so before anyone had even had time to react the boys face was so covered in blood that he was unrecognisable. Jack didn't move to stop him, like everyone had expected him to. Instead he stood there laughing, while Ace's knee made contact with the boys nose, and a loud crunching noise filled the room.

The rest of tent seemed to click as to what was happening seconds later and they all moved to join in. Snake, Fro, Eight, Sparky and Jack seemed to take this as their indication to join as well, because next thing everyone knew, there was an all out brawl going on on the floor of the wreck room. Ivy grinned and grabbed one of the boys attacking Snake by the hair, pulling him up off the floor, and then shoving his head down violently into her knee. His face gave a satisfying crunch. She kicked him to the ground, kneeling down next to him and ramming his head against the floor roughly.

Then suddenly, the loud sound of something shattering stopped everyone n their tracks. The cluster of people sprawled on the floor looked up to see Mr. Sir standing in front of them, with a half a bottle in his hand, the other half broken on the table.

"All of y'all, get up" he barked and everyone dragged themselves slowly up. Mr. Sir surveyed them with a look of disgust in his face. He looked at each one of them and then spat a sunflower seed on the ground.

"You, you and you" he said, pointing to Ace, Ivy and the leader of B tent, "Y'all are comin' with me".

Ivy's eyes opened wide. Where were they going? And why was she going with them? She hadn't even been involved as much as most of the others. What was Mr. Sir going to do to her? She tried to stay calm as her eyes sought out Ace. He wasn't looking back at her, he was smirking at Sparky. Clearly he wasn't as worried as she was. He spat on the ground and Ivy saw that it was a rather alarming red colour. She turned around, not wanting to worry about Ace. She trudged out of the room after Mr. Sir and Ace the other boy followed them. She turned around and looked at ace again, worry plastered across her face. He wasn't smiling but when he saw her looking, he gave her a reassuring nod and winked. He caught up to her and walked next to her. From this distance, she could see blood running down his face from a cut over his eye, and he spat some more blood on the ground, before he started talking to her.

"Come on Rock, she ain't gonna kill you" he murmured and she looked back, to distracted to notice that he had said she.

"You're bleeding" she said distantly, and before she knew what she was dong, her hand reached up and wiped the trail of blood that ran down his cheek. His eyes opened wide for about a second, and then he seemed to recover. He grinned as she pulled her hand back quickly, when she realised what she had done.

"Sorry" she muttered, and looked away, fiddling agitatedly with the sleeve of her jumpsuit. He just winked at her again.

"Don't be" he said, and he sounded surprisingly serious. A loud knock on the door in front of them made them break eye contact swiftly and they both looked up at the door of the cabin which was starting to open. A woman's head, with long red hair flowing behind it stuck out from the gap.

"What d'you want?" she asked, glowering at Mr. Sir, who looked back at her with something bordering on adoration.

"These ones have been fighting" he said, gesturing to the three of them standing behind him.

"And why exactly, does that require my attention?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

"Well, I just thought you might want to deal with it. 'Cause it's the girl and all" he added, jerking his thumb in the direction of Ivy. She opened her mouth to say something, but a look from the warden shut her up quickly.

"You might as well come in then, all of you" she moved back from the door, opening it wider to allow them in. Ivy looked around her cautiously. There were a lot of posters in the room, all of the looked like old newspaper articles, and one or two were wanted posters with pictures of a pretty blonde woman on them. Kate Barlow, they said. Ivy raised an eyebrow; why would the Warden care about some woman that had died almost one hundred years ago. Someone was clearly living in the past.

"Take a seat" she said, gesturing to the seats that sat in front of her desk. Mr. Sir remained standing near the door, looking almost like a guard.

"Listen, I ain't got nothin' to do with this-" began B tent boy, but the warden interrupted.

"Excuse me? I don't remember asking you a question" she said icily, "And from the look of your face, I'd say that you have a lot to do with this".

"Damn right he does" said Mr. Sir, knowingly. The warden ignored him and looked at Ivy.

"And what are you doing here?" she asked, clearly noticing that there were no marks on her body from the fight. Ivy looked at Mr. Sir questioningly, realising that she had no idea why she was actually there. It wasn't as though she had started the fight or anything.

"She started it" Mr. Sir said and Ivy's jaw dropped. She went to argue, but was once again stopped by the warden.

"Is this true Rocky?" she asked, sounding surprisingly nice.

"No. He started it" she said innocently, pointing to the boy, whose name she still didn't know, "I mean I can't help it if I don't like him, that's no reason to attack everyone in my tent".

"I didn't bring you here to be starting relationships with anyone. I told you boys that as well. Tell me Blaze, do you remember that?" she was looking at the B tent boy, who Ivy now gathered was called Blaze. He nodded, looking down at the table.

"Then why would you assault the boys from her tent?"

"I didn't Ma'am, we just went over there to talk to them, and they got all protective of her".

"Well what did you say to them?" she asked coldly.

"Nothing, we were just trying to be friends with them. Then she started threatening us" he said. Ivy wanted to protest, but she could tell that right now that wouldn't be a good idea.

"And why are you here Ace?" she asked, seeming rather bored of the conversation.

"I ain' got no idea ma'am" he said, leaning back in his chair, "I was just tryna help out"

"Did you do that to Blaze's face?" she asked, indicating the drying blood that covered his face.

"Well, I like to think that he did it to his own face, what with him bein' so rude and all" Ace explained, and the warden glared at him.

"You brought them here so they could tell me about a little fight that they had?" she said to Mr. Sir, clearly over the inquisition.

"It weren't no little fight Lou look at the boy. He was the worst, but the others weren't looking to good either" he said protectively.

"Well next time, deal with it yourself and don't go bothering me with things that aren't important, the three of you can go" she snapped, beckoning to Mr. Sir to come over to her desk. "You three don't get in any more trouble" she added as they walked out the door, "This isn't fight club... And Ivy. Don't forget, this isn't a dating service either. You here strictly to better yourself, I don't want you interacting with the boys as anymore than friends".

Ivy nodded and closed the door behind her. She let out a sigh as the door closed. Ace smirked at her.

"Told you she ain't that bad" and Ivy grinned, because she realised he was right. As much as she didn't doubt that the warden could be worse, she had come out unscathed tonight, which was good enough for her. She was however stuck with one burning question.

Where on earth did Ace learn to do that to someone? But she wasn't sure if she really wanted to know the answer to that question. Tonight, she was happy with Ace, and she was almost dead certain that whatever the answer was, it wasn't going to make her happy.

...

**Oh my god, I'm so sick, and I'm not sure whether it's good thing or a bad thing, because I feel like crap, but it means that I get to write more.**

**My voice is really croaky and my uncle showed up from America today and started giving me this huge lecture on smoking and I was like... what the hell? Because I'm seriously the most anti-smoking person you'll ever meet. But then it turns out that he thought that I was because of my voice. LOL it was so funny.  
**

**Thanks to my reviewers especially the new ones Anya Winchester, Beautiful Seclusion and Jemkay. You guys wrote such amazing reviews, I loved reading them so major props hehe**

**Um, InsanexKoneko... Wow, LOL, um you really didn't have to review every chapter haha. That was a lot of reviews. and do you really think that chapter 6 is M?? Haha, my bad i guess, its just it's not like one of those weird sex stories so I just figured that it wasn't M, but maybe it is...**

**One more chapter before I explain Ace and Jack. BTW, some of you reviewers are mucho intelligent, working out the ace, jack thing... well I mean, I guess it is knid of obvious, but hey, you still worked it out a little.**

**Congrats haha, I'll probably update tomorrow, at least once so don't worry, you won't have to wait too long to find out.**

**cheers**

**xx**

**Bee**


	22. Lizards and more L words

"I'm tired" Ivy announced, sitting down in her hole and leaning her eyes against the side and closing her eyes.

And then she felt it. Something cool moving over her foot, up her ankle, then her calf and she opened her eyes. And screamed.

"Oh my god, oh my god, OH MY GOD" she screamed, sitting completely still and staring at the lizard that was crawling over the leg of her jumpsuit. It's yellow spots clearly visible from this distance. Her breaths were shallow as she tried to control herself. Ivy didn't know why she did what she did next, but at the time, she wasn't really thinking about looking indifferent.

"Ace?" she screamed, unable to tear her eyes away from the thing on her leg. "Ace, oh my god" she was getting hysterical and she heard the rush of feet as a bunch of boys ran over to her hole.

"Damn Rocky, what the- Oh_ Shit_" someone, she wasn't looking up to see who it was, swore.

"Oh my god, I'm gonna die" she cried, watching as the lizard crawled up over her arm.

"Rocky" a deep, steady voice cut into her terror, "Rock, look at me". She looked up slowly, to see Ace crouched down at the edge of her hole. He was staring straight at her, and she could make out a hint of panic in his eyes although he was hiding it well.

"Ace, help me" she pleaded, sounding more vulnerable than she ever had in her entire life.

"Don't worry, Rock you're gonna be fine" he lied, and he tried to keep his face neutral as the lizard climbed up her sleeve to her neck and hissed in her ear. She whimpered and he moved forward slightly.

"You're going to be fine" he repeated, only this time it didn't sound so much like he was trying to reassure her, as that he was trying to convince himself.

"I'm scared" she said, and she was too blurry eyed from the tears that were now streaming down her face to see him wince slightly at those words.

"Don't be. Think about something else. Think about... Last night. That was fun right? Well maybe not so much for Sparky, since he looks like a bloody panda now" he added, trying to sound casual as he attempted to focus her concentration on something else. She nodded and gave a teary, forced smile. And then the lizard dug it's claws into her neck and she let out a small scream of terror.

"Oh my god, I'm too young to die" she sobbed, and she heard someone laugh.

"Shut up Eight, it ain't funny" she heard Snake's voice reprimand, but she was too busy staring at Ace to concentrate on the conversation.

"You ain't gonna die Rock, just stay still" he murmured, his blue eyes staring deeply into her green ones. And she felt something in her stomach twist as the lizard moved closer to her ear. What if she did die? What if this was the last time she saw Snake, or Fro, or Luke? What if this was the last time she saw Ace? That thought made something happen in her stomach that was almost equal to what the lizard did. And it was then that she realised.

"Ace..." she sobbed, and he looked back at her with pained expression on his face, "Ace I think I'm in lo-" she broke off with a scream as a gunshot sounded millimetres away from her ear. Her eyes screwed shut and she waited for the pain, but none came. Slowly she opened her eyes.

The lizard wasn't on her any more, it was lying in the hole next to her, bleeding from a wound in it's head. Federovski stood at the edge of the hole with a gun in his hand. Ivy sobbed loudly and climbed out of the hole, being immediately mobbed by the boys who hugged her tighter than anyone ever had before. She buried her head in the nearest person's chest and sobbed hysterically.

"Move back boys, give her some room" Federovski said calmly, and she felt the crowd around her disperse slightly. She looked up to see Jack holding her tightly into his chest, and she was too relieved to care who it was. She wrapped her arms around him and held onto him so tightly he could hardly breathe. She didn't mention that she was imagining he was Ace. Ace, who had quite possibly just saved her life. Ace, who she had almost just told something that she had never said to anyone before.

"Come on Ivy... We'll take you back to camp" Federovski said, and she nodded against Jack's chest, but she didn't let go of him. There was a long silence as they waited for her to move.

"Maybe we should take you too Tyler, she seems quite attached to you right now" he said, and she felt a hand moving her over to the water truck. She clutched onto Jack, and she didn't say how she wished he was Ace. And as they climbed into the truck she stopped herself from asking for Ace instead. But she couldn't stop herself from turning round to look at him right before the truck drove 

away, and he was looking back. But he didn't look happy, or sarcastic, or in control or even angry like she had expected. He looked shocked, and Ivy finally stopped wishing he was there, and started wondering whether he had possibly understood what it was that she had been about to say.

...

His hand rubbed soothingly up and down her arm, slowly calming her. Her breaths were becoming more and more regular, and the tears pouring from her eyes had finally stopped. She rolled over on her bed and looked up at him, and reality came back to her quickly when she remembered that the person sitting over her wasn't Ace. Another tear escaped from her eye, although she didn't know why. She was safe now, there was nothing to be crying about. Jack looked down at her sympathetically.

"You're alright now Rocky, don't cry" he reached up his hand to wipe away the tear that was trickling down her cheek. She shut her eyes tight, and pretended that it was Ace's hand that was resting gently on her cheek, and she felt a smile come to her face. And as the thumb began to stroke her face, she smiled more because it was Ace doing that to her. And when she felt the person getting closer to her, she felt a thrill of excitement run through her, because she wanted Ace to do that. And when Jack kissed her, she kissed him back desperately, because she wanted Ace so much. But he didn't taste right, and he didn't feel right, and most importantly _she_ didn't feel right. It was like there was an empty space where the excitement should have been. She didn't feel anything, because she didn't want to be kissing anyone except Ace. So she gave him a light push on the chest and he moved back with a reluctant groan.

"I don't feel like it now Jack" she lied, not looking in his eyes. He moved back more and sat up again with a sigh.

"Fair enough" he said with a small smile, "You did just have a near death experience". She gave a weak laugh.

"Can we just talk?"

"About what?" he asked, eyeing her up suspiciously.

"About... I don't know... How about you finish that sentence that you started on your first day? Please?" she was practically begging and jack smirked at her.

"I don't think that's going to happen Rock. I've already told you I can't tell you" he said, sounding genuinely sorry, but unwilling to change his decision. Ivy gave an exasperated sigh.

"Why? It's not like anyone would know. I won't tell anyone. Please? Please, please, please?" she pouted and he looked at her long and hard, seeming to consider.

"I'm not going to tell you- no wait" he said as she opened her mouth to protest, "I'm not going to tell you _today_. I need some time to get my head around what I'm going to do. Give me two days, and then I'll explain"

Ivy contained the whoop of glee that she had been about to let out. "Thank you Jack" she smiled smugly and he smiled back.

"Yeah, why don't you wait until I tell you before you thank me" he said and Ivy frowned.

"Is it that bad" she questioned.

"It's no fairytale, put it like that" he was frowning. Ivy made a mock sad face.

"Aw, no princesses then?" she giggled and Jack gave her a sly smile.

"No... Just a few Kings and Queens".

...

**Ohhhhhh, suspense much? Haha. Wasn't Ace sweet? If I was him, I'd be pissed off that she went back with Jack after I did that for her. But hey, maybe he was, who knows.**

**I'm still sick. Which means that I've had three days off school and since it was the weekend inbetween I havent gone to school in 5 days. I could get used to this.**

**Only now we're starting all the improtant stuff for like pre exam stuff so I should probably be there. But whatever.**

**For those of you who have worked out how Ace and Jack know each other, the end of this chapter's going to make much more sense to you.**

**For everyone else, don't sweat it, you'll find out a bit more in the next chapter, and then probably the whole thing in the chapter after that.**

**This story's like 23, 702 words long now. I'm quite impressed with myself.**

**lol, thanks for reading**

**xx**

**Bee**


	23. findings, fevers and fights

The evening air was surprisingly cool that day, as Ivy walked past the mess hall back to the tent. She was planning on getting an early night, after the events of yesterday she was pretty worn out. She was nearing the tent when she heard voices coming from inside. This was nothing unusual; there were almost always people in the tent. It was who the voices belonged to that made Ivy stop just beside the flap to listen. Jack and Ace's voices came out through the open flap of the tent. Jack and Ivy hadn't talked about the kiss that had happened yesterday, and Ivy was glad. She hoped he had just written it off as a moment of insanity on her part, because she really didn't want him to tell anyone about it. Especially not Ace.

"They got Seven too. She's in some women's prison in Chicago" Jack said "It was only about two months after you left".

"I wouldn't exactly call it leaving" Ace said sounding fairly annoyed.

"Of course not. I just meant that you weren't there. She was worried about what was going to happen to you" Jack sounded smug about that, whatever it meant.

"Damn, why would she do that? It ain't like I was the first one to get caught"

"Ah, but you were the first _important_ one to get caught. She thought things might be a bit rough in jail for you and she was stressing out. Especially with the diamonds swarming all over the place at the time".

"What?" Ace's tone was sharp and it was the closest to panic that Ivy had ever heard it.

"After you got taken in, Two disappeared for a little while. When he came back, he was with them. Things were pretty rough for us for a while. King got it all sorted out in the end. I don't expect that they'll be back any time soon". Both the boys gave small laughs, but they were bitter and harsh.

Jack continued. "The clubs offered to help out, but you know King. He was never the type to accept help, even when we needed it".

'Good man" Ace said, "That's exactly what I woulda done".

"Yes, well, he's done a good job of looking after everyone in your... absence".

"'Spect he would" Ace said, "That's why he's King. But there's something I ain't gettin'... What'd you do to get here? I never thought you'd get caught".

"Ah, but we never thought you would either. And now look. You, Seven and Me, all out of action. But all credit for my capture goes to King. I was following orders. Although I have to say, these ones were harder to follow than they usually are. There was a boy working for the clubs, he had been for about two weeks. King wanted him out of the picture. Said he was going to be trouble in the future. With all the trouble with the diamonds only a year old, and you still in here, he didn't want to take any chances. So he told me to get rid of the kid. He said he didn't care how, just as long as no one found him and traced it back to us. It wasn't easy though I have to tell you. The kid didn't even put up a fight. He just begged a lot. Made me feel kind of bad for him, but an order's an order, and the boy should have known better than to get involved in things he couldn't handle. I would have got away with it if their Ten wasn't so nosy. Looked around for him for forever until she found him. And then they managed to get proof that it was me. No idea how they did that though"

"Maybe you're losing your touch" Ace sounded almost smug.

"The most interesting thing happened though. Right before he died, he gave me a letter. Asked me to send it, if I was going to kill him".

"And did you?" Ace asked.

"No. I was hardly going to help out the clubs was I? I gave it to King, and he never gave it back. Whatever was on it, it must have been important"

Ivy had heard enough. She didn't want to stand around outside anymore, in case Jack decided to go into detail about how he killed the poor boy. Clearly self defence meant something different to him than it did to her. She felt her fists clench as she wondered how anyone could hurt a little kid just because they got told to. What was wrong with Jack? Was he insane? Not to mention the fact that he had lied to her. Whatever all that crap about his little brother was, it was obviously not true. And how could Ace sit there and listen to that story without even flinching? This was a kid they were talking about here. Did Ace think that it was okay for Jack to kill people? Or was he the one that used to order them to do that type of thing? Was this a regular occurrence for him? Ivy was so angry by then, she wasn't even sure if she should go into the tent, for fear of attacking one of them, but she took a deep breath and steadied herself against the side of the tent. She would go in there, pretend like nothing was wrong, and go to sleep. It couldn't be that hard.

"Hey Rocky" Jack smiled when she walked in. She resisted the urge to cringe.

"Hi" she said, keeping her voice light.

"You alright?" Ace asked, frowning at her. She stopped the glare that was fighting to appear on her face.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You look really pale" Jack sounded concerned. Now that he mentioned it, Ivy did feel a little strange. Not sick, it wasn't that. She just felt like something was missing. Like she was forgetting something that she should have remembered.

"I have a headache" she murmured, distractedly. What was it that she was forgetting? She knew it was significant but it seemed to be eluding her memory. She heard someone come into the tent 

behind her and she felt suddenly relieved. She was a lot happier not having to be in the tent by herself with these two.

"Rocky, there you are" it was Snake, "I wondered where you had disappeared to". Ivy turned around with a relieved smile and stopped herself from flinging her arms around Snake.

"Snake" she beamed, "I was tired I was going to come back and go to sleep. But I don't want to interrupt this conversation, so maybe we should go".

"What?" Snake said, "They don't look too distracted. Why don't we just stay here?"

"No, really, we're just getting in the way".

"Don't be stupid Rocky, you're not interrupting anything" Jack said jovially. Ivy glared at Snake then plastered a smile on her face and turned around.

"Oh. Great. I guess we'll stay then" she smiled sitting down on her bed.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" Snake asked and Ivy glared at him some more; she didn't want to hear it again. He gave her bewildered look. 'What' he mouthed to her and she shook her head frustratedly.

"Nothing much. Just being at home" Jack said, while Ace stared at Ivy with a bemused look on his face.

"Well I bet that was a really interesting conversation" Ivy spat, with a sarcastic smile.

"Damn Rock, will you calm down?" Snake enquired, sounding extremely confused.

"No. I'm going to have shower" she said, storming out of the tent.

"What was that about?" she heard Jack's voice ask as she walked further away from the tent.

"No idea" Snake said, evidently forgetting about how much he hated Jack.

"She's just tired" Ace said, being unusually nice about Ivy's mood. Their voices faded away as she got closer to the showers.

The water was cold, and refreshing and it calmed her down slightly. Maybe she shouldn't judge Ace and Jack. After all, she had done things that she wasn't proud of, but at the time, they had seemed to make sense. She really had no idea what life was like for them, but from the sound of it, things had been pretty rough. The way they had been talking, it sounded like they were in a gang or something. Maybe they only did what they did so that they wouldn't get killed, in which case Ivy decided that she could forgive them for it, because she definitely didn't want Ace or Jack to die.

By the time she got out of the shower, she had calmed down completely. She was however, shivering. It was getting cold extremely fast, and it seemed that after spending the last few months being far too hot, her body had lost the ability to deal with cold. She got dressed and walked quickly back to the tent, hugging her arms around her body. It was freezing. Why was it so cold? It was never cold around here. She ignored the boys greetings when she arrived at the tent, walking over to her bed and burrowing down under the sheets. The air was freezing against her skin. She felt a sweat break out on her forehead, even though she was still shivering. It was so cold under the blankets.

"She's still mad at us" the voice sounded strangely muted. Ivy's teeth began to chatter. Her head hurt, and her skin was freezing.

She wanted to get up, to go and get a drink, but she couldn't stand the idea of letting more cold air touch her skin. After what felt like hours, but had in fact only been minutes, she heard the sound of the boys getting into bed. Then everything was quiet. She couldn't sleep, and the sweat on her skin was making the sheets stick to her. Why was it so cold?

At about one in the morning, Ivy climbed out of her bed. She didn't know what she was doing. Just that she was wanted to be warmer. She was so cold. Ace lay on his side, fast asleep in his bed. Ivy pulled back the covers and climbed in, pressing her body against his in an attempt to warm herself up. She sighed contentedly as his warm skin touched hers, and the blankets settled around her cutting off the cold air. He stirred slightly and one of his eyes opened as Ivy snuggled into his chest. He wrapped arm around her slowly, pulling her closer into him.

"You're hot" he mumbled groggily, and she didn't answer as she pressed her fingers against his warm arms. Then both of his eyes opened wider.

"Holy shit, you're hot" he said, sitting up and looking properly at her.

"Stop moving, you're letting the cold air in" Ivy murmured, tugging on Ace's arm to try and get him to lie down again. She didn't open her eyes.

"Rock, what the hell? Why didn't you say something?" Ace sounded annoyed. She didn't want him to be annoyed with her.

"Don't be mad" she mumbled, "I'm fine. I'm just cold"

"Rock, you ain't cold" now he sounded less annoyed and more alarmed. He thought she was insane.

"Lie down?" she murmured, tugging on him some more, "I'll be better in the morning". He shook his head, giving a frustrated grunt but he did lie down.

"If you die-"

"I'm not gonna die Ace" she said, shivering involuntarily, "Now shush". She wriggled closer to him again, and rested her head against his chest. He draped his arm around her again as his eyes closed. She sighed softly as she felt her shivering slow and then stop. And she found that finally she could sleep.

She woke up again, and she thought it might have been about three. She wasn't cold anymore. In fact, she was hot. Far too hot. Unthinkingly she pulled up her T-shirt and wriggled it out from under Ace's arm until it was over her head. Then she threw it on the floor next to the bed. That was better. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms back around Ace. Her finger rested on his shoulder blade and she felt a small raised shape there. It was like lines on his skin... Ivy realised it was a tattoo. A tattoo of what felt like an upside down heart.

...

"Rocky" someone hissed. Ivy opened her eyes groggily. The room looked strange this morning. Everything seemed to be on the wrong angle.

"Rock, wake up" the voice sounded more urgent. She looked behind her and saw Ace asleep behind her. Then all the events of last night came back to her. But if Ace was asleep then...

She tried to sit up, but she was stopped by Ace's arm which was holding her tightly to him. She pushed it off her and he gave a small grunt in his sleep, before rolling over. She caught sight of a worried looking Fin standing over her and Ace.

"Fin, what are you doing?" she asked, and then realised that she was at that moment in a rather compromising position with Ace. She pulled the covers tighter around herself and Ace stirred slightly and rolled back over to face her. He wrapped his arm around Ivy's waist again, but she pushed it off reluctantly.

"Whatryoudoin" he mumbled, opening an eye slightly and looking at Ivy. Then he looked over and saw Fin standing next to the bed and glared at him. "Go back to sleep kid" he muttered, pulling on Ivy as she began to get out of the bed. Then something in his head seemed to click and he let go of Ivy immediately, grabbing her shirt off the floor and throwing it to her.

"Look Fin, it's not what it looks like" Ivy began as she pulled the shirt on, but Fin shook his head.

"Listen, I don't care what you two are doing, but I'm pretty sure that everyone else will so you might want to get up" he said, looking nervously at Ace.

"Thanks" Ivy smiled, climbing out of the bed. Ace's glare didn't falter.

"If you tell anyone about this" he said gesturing to himself and Ivy, "I-".

"Ace, be quiet. He's trying to help and all you can do is threaten him?" Ivy admonished. He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah whatever. Last time I help you" he added the last bit in a quiet undertone which Ivy could hear very clearly. She glared at him and then turned around and walked over to her bed.

"Because you were so much help" she said, "You didn't even do anything, you just lay there".

"Wow, I don't know if I want to hear this" Fin said, and Ivy realised how that would sound to someone who didn't know what had happened the night before.

"Don't sweat it chick" Ace said, as he walked to the door of the tent, "Next time you're cold, go talk to Jack".

"I don't know what you're talking about" she snapped and he gave a bitter laugh.

"What, you think I don't know what happened with you two? You really think that boy wasn't gonna run round tellin' everyone he saw? 'Cause if you did, you ain't as bloody smart as you think you are" he spat and then turned and strode through the door. Ivy gave a loud cry of frustration and threw one of the shoes lying on the ground at the wall.

If Ace wanted to be so goddamn annoying, then she could deal with that. Maybe she just would take up his offer of going to Jack. See how he liked that.

...

**Thanks to my reviewers Kaityb- that was honestly such a lovely review!! and Z00- you know I wrote half of this chater, and then i got your review and it said the stuf about chicago and I was like wow coincidence, because of that stuff about seven being in a prison in chicago :O:O**

**stunner lol. But I was just a tad worried about something you said:**

**Is Ace getting too cute? I mean, he was meant to start getting nicer, but he wasn't actually meant to be nice if that makes sense, so now Im a little worried.**

**That's partly why they had the fight. i think now that he's angry he's gonna do something really mean and then he won't be as nice any more.**

**But I guess if you guys don't want that to happen you could review and tell me how absolutely crap it would be if that happened.**

**hehe. not hinting at all.**

**next chapter's a counselling session. I'm gonna write it now. yay**

**hehe**

**xx**

**Bee.**


	24. long awaited explanations

Ivy awoke again after five minutes of sleep in her own bed, to the sound of voices.

"Rock, guess what?" Jack smiled, coming over.

"What is it?" she asked croakily.

"We get the day off"

"What, why?"

"Sandstorm" he said, sitting down on her bed "Huge one. You can't see two meters in front of you out there"

"So we're just going to sit in here all day?" she asked, looking across the room and seeing that Ace was back in his bed. He saw her looking and raised an eyebrow at her in a rather antagonistic look. She glared at him then looked away and smiled at Jack.

"Pretty much" Jack grinned.

"In that case" Ivy said with a sly smile, pulling Jack a little closer on her bed, "you owe me a story". She had only just remembered his promise to tell her what he had done. Even after what she heard the night before, she only knew half the story. That, and she wanted to annoy Ace.

"Indeed I do" he said with a smile, "But wouldn't you rather wake up a bit more first"? She shook her head certainly. She had waited for two days, she wasn't about to wait any longer.

"Well alright then... first though, you should probably tell me how much you heard last night". Ivy felt a small jolt of panic run through her. He knew? Why hadn't he said anything? He was smirking at her. "Don't worry Rock, I don't care, I just don't want to have to say stuff if you already know it".

"Um... I don't really remember" she lied, "Something about some girl being in prison and all this stuff about cards... I didn't really get it".

"Come" he said, taking her hand and dragging her out of bed and over to his bed in the corner, "I probably shouldn't talk about this too loudly. You remember how I told that I was Jack like the card?" she nodded and he continued, "There's a reason behind that. Have you ever heard of the Spades?"

"What? It sounds like some sort of archaeologist cult" she laughed and he raised an eyebrow.

"An archaeological cult? Funny, but no. It actually refers to the suit of cards" he said although he didn't look like he was laughing. Ivy stopped smiling; maybe it wasn't such a good idea to make fun of Jack's gang or whatever it was. Perhaps he would get defensive and not tell her anything.

"Sorry" she backtracked, "No, I haven't heard of... it?"

"Them" he corrected, "It's a gang of sorts. More like a sub-gang actually. There are four you see; The Spades, The Clubs, The Diamonds and The Hearts. Each one has 13 members, one for each card. Originally, they were all part of the same gang called Los Jugadores-"

"What does that mean?" Ivy interrupted.

"It means the players in Spanish. Like card players" Jack said, "Anyway, that didn't work out so well. See everyone was a card, but since there are four suits, there were four of everything. And you can't have four leaders. And there was no way of choosing one, because if we voted, it was always equal; no one voted against their suit. So in the end they gave up trying, and split up, and four new gangs formed. Only these new ones, they were a bit more exclusive. There was a stage where everyone was being thrown out left and right for any reason, so new people could be brought in. All the gangs were worrying about the others, and the skills that the people in the group needed to have were a bit more specific. Every card had it's own... special talent".

"What do you mean 'special talent'?" Ivy asked with a frown.

"They all have different jobs. Like Six of Spades. He's the best driver you'll ever meet, but no one wanted him, because of his rather... colourful past. It was like killing two birds with one stone; driver extraordinaire, with some serious shooting skills" Jack said with a smirk "We did what we had to do so we didn't get killed. That meant finding people who knew what they were doing. Only as it turned out, finding people wasn't as hard as everyone would have expected. Everyone who knew about us wanted in. It was only a matter of choosing the right people. At the end of it, only nine of the original 52 were left; One Club, two Spades and Diamonds, and four Hearts. Of course, by now that's changed; people leave, people come back, it gets a bit confusing. It wasn't just for protection. It was partly an offensive strategy. If you have less original people, you have less people that the opposition knows and more of an advantage".

"Okay" Ivy said "So I'm guessing that you have a lot to do with all of this"?

He grinned and winked at her. "Jack of Spades at your service" he said with a mock bow. Ivy giggled.

"And tell me Mr. Jack of Spades, what's this special talent of yours? I'm curious"

"Oh, I don't know if you want to know that" he said with a small smile. She wondered if Ace was looking right then. She leaned closer to Jack and titled her head on the side, twirling her hair around her finger in case he was.

"I really do" she murmured, batting her eyelashes at him. He looked uncertain, but he answered anyway.

"I'm good with knives" he said, sounding like he wasn't telling the whole story, but Ivy didn't expect to get anymore out of him. She had got all the information out of him that she wanted for one day. Now the only thing he was still good for was... She chanced a glance out of her eye and saw Ace talking to Snake, not looking at her. She could change that.

"That's really sexy" she murmured leaning even closer and licking her lips slightly.

"Well, you're not too bad yourself" he said with a wink. Ace better be looking, there was no way she was going to do this for no reason. She managed to avoid gritting her teeth as she leaned in. Oh god, how had she done this the first time? This horrible, it was like kissing her brother or something. Was Ace really worth this? What a stupid question, of course he was. She was only millimetres away, when something distracted her.

"What the fuck are you looking at boy?" Ace hissed at Sparky, who looked away at the ground mumbling something that Ivy couldn't hear.

"I look annoyed? Do I seem annoyed to you?" he was practically yelling, and Sparky shook his head quickly. She was sick of this. Ace just always had to screw things up with everyone who was trying to be nice to him.

"Oh my god, do you ever shut up?" Ivy yelled before she could stop herself. Ace turned on her and he looked furious.

"I didn't know I was talking to you" he said, eyes blazing.

"You're mental. No wonder everyone's scared of you, you're insane" she spat, glaring at him. Ace took a sharp breath.

"Get her out of here, before I hit her" he said, pointing to the door. No one moved.

"There's a sand storm man" Eight said quietly. Ace gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Oh really? Well then maybe you should _do what I fucking tell you_" he yelled and there was a scramble as Snake grabbed Ivy and dragged her outside. Jack followed after them.

"Not you" Ace scowled at Jack, "I need to talk to you".

"What could you possibly want to talk to me about?" Jack asked sarcastically.

"Don't screw with me right now boy I'm not in the mood" Ace growled.

And then Ivy was outside the tent and there was sand everywhere, stinging her face and her hands and tangling in her hair. And Snake had her firmly by the arm and was dragging her somewhere, but she couldn't see where it was. She heard a door opening and shutting and then the two of them were inside the empty wreck room. Ivy shook sand out of her hair and wiped her eyes.

"Me and you need to have a talk girlie" Snake said, "Take a seat".

...

**Okay, I'm done with this for today.**

**Ewwwww, she was gonna kiss Jack lol**

**there was a lot of explaining in this chapter. Well, not a lot, but enough.**

**I'm gonna go work on my zig fic now. yay for everyon who reads that! feel free to review it hint,hint lol**

**cheers**

**xx**

**Bee**


	25. he's got jokes and advice?

"What do you think you're doin'?" Snake asked when they were both sitting at a table. Ivy looked at him.

"Huh?" she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Come on Rocky, I know you're not that dumb" he sounded frustrated.

"Are you talking about me and Jack?" Ivy realised after some consideration, "Because we're just friends".

"Oh, you're just friends? Friends who think it would be a good idea to kiss each other in front of everyone else" he asked sarcastically.

"Why do you care? It's nothing to do with you" Ivy was starting to get annoyed.

"It is when I have to watch you two. And it was bad enough for me, why would you do that to _him_?" Snake glared at her.

"Who?" Ivy muttered, but she knew that Snake knew she was lying. He didn't answer her, just gave an exasperated grunt and covered his face with his hands.

"Okay, maybe I know who you're talking about" she allowed, "But it's nothing to do with him either Snake. He's got nothing to do with me".

"Tell me, are you blind, or just really, really stupid?" Snake said, dropping his hands and glaring at her. "Have you not seen how the boy looks at you?"

"He doesn't look at me, he too self-absorbed to even see anyone else" she snapped, tapping her fingers against the table.

"Yeah maybe if you had of said that two months ago, I would of agreed with you. But not anymore-"

"Look, if the only reason you wanted to talk to me was to have a giant bitch about Ace, then I'm not interested. He can do whatever he wants with his life, as long as he leaves me the hell alone" she spat, standing up. She was more than willing to brave the sandstorm again, if it meant getting away from this lecture.

"You're driving him mad. You think he used to get this angry before you got here? He was a rock. Nothing fazed him. Then you come along and _bam_; everything sets him off" Snake seemed desperate, "did you see what he did to Blaze when he was saying shit about you? Or Eight"? Snake froze, his eyes widening as he realised what he had just said.

"_What?" _Ivy stared at Snake unable to believe what he had just said. Ace had done what? Her mind seemed to have shut down. Or maybe it was broken, because there was _no_ way that Snake just said that. Ivy thought back to the image stuck firmly in her memory of Eight's swollen, bruised face and she cringed. Ace did that to him?

"Why?" she asked, sitting down again. This better not have anything to do with some macho bullshit excuse, or she was going. Snake looked a little uncomfortable.

"Listen, can we just forget that I said that?" he muttered awkwardly. Then he looked at Ivy's face. "Maybe not" he sighed resignedly, "Okay listen, he was pissed off, because Eight upset you. He knows how to hurt people. He was just going with what he used to do".

"What, so its normal for him to do that people then?" she hissed.

"No, Rocky, that's what I'm trying to tell you; i_t's not normal_. Not until you got here. Now we're starting to get used to it" he added the last sentence in a slightly bitter tone.

"Oh, even better. It's my fault that he practically deformed Eight. Wonderful"

"Jesus, Rock would ya stop taking everything as an insult. I was just tryna tell you that Ace has changed since you got here. And you're not helping by tryna make him jealous-"

"I was _not-_"

"Yeah, right, whatever, I don't really care. The point is, that you're not just screwin' up your chances with him, you're screwin' up pretty much everything for the rest of us".

"What? I haven't done anything to you guys" she protested.

"Think about it Rocky, when he gets mad at you, who do you reckon he takes it out on? He ain't gonna go hittin no girl" was it just her ears or was Snake sounding seriously bitter.

"Well then he should calm down" she said, but her voice was lacking all the conviction that it had before. She was starting to see where Snake was coming from. She should get out of there, before she did something really stupid, like apologise. "Listen, if that's all, I think I'm gonna-"

"No, wait. That's not all" he said quickly, reaching out and grabbing her arm to stop her from getting up. Wow. Whatever he was going to say, it must be important.

"What?" she asked, the slightest bit exasperated.

"It's about" he paused and grimaced, "Jack". Ivy groaned.

"Snake I know you don't like him, I'm not sure your judgement is completely-"

"Hold up, will you just hear me out?" he pleaded. Ivy sighed and gave a small nod.

"I'm not gonna sit here and tell you how much I hate him. Mostly 'cause you know that already, but just for the record, I really, really, really don't like that guy. But that's not the problem. Rock... I don't really know how to say this. You're not a bad chick, and I don't want- I mean, I'd rather... Jack, he's bad guy. I mean really bad. And not just personality wise, I mean yeah, he's bloody annoying, but he's got serious issues. You don't know him".

"Neither do you" Ivy protested.

"Ah, but I know _of_ him"

"You know of him? You make him sound like Matt Damon or something" she muttered.

"Close, but no. He's practically a legend in the crime world. Everyone who's anyone knows who he is. I wasn't a big deal, I was strictly small time, but I had friends. Friends who were involved in all that 'el Juga- whatevers' shit when it happened. I've heard stuff about that boy that would make your blood run cold. He ain't no teenage gang member. None of them are, but Jack's something different. That kid is crazy, no joke".

Ivy rolled her eyes. "He's not crazy Snake, I've been talking to him for a week, I think I would have realised by now if he was".

"Oh yeah? They have a nickname for him you know? The other gangs. They call him Blackjack. They're talking about his soul girl. Black as night". Ivy snorted.

"Oh please. You sound like a preacher with all this 'immortal soul' crap" she laughed, and he glared at her.

"He killed a little kid you know. That's how he got here. Told me himself, seemed pretty bloody proud of it too. Who does that? Little kids are off limits man. Besides, there's something about him that I just don't trust. Boy just opens his mouth and lies come out". Ivy sighed, trying to dismiss his comments but something in her stomach didn't quite feel right. Why would Snake lie to her? And did she really have any reason to believe things that Jack told her? There was no denying that Jack was a compulsive liar. Besides that, a part of her was sure that the only reason she even liked Jack was because he was the best way of getting under Ace's skin.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked eventually, "Just stop talking to him?"

"I just want you to be careful. I think you're outta your league here Rock. This boy don't work like the rest of us, and I don't want you gettin' hurt... And I love my face too much to let you keep pissin' Ace off" he smirked and Ivy shook her head with a smile on her face.

"Can we go back to the tent now?" she murmured, lying her head down on the table. He stood up and ruffled her hair jokingly.

"Maybe I should go back and check first. I ain't so sure Ace was jokin' when he said he was gonna hit you". He walked out of the Wreck room, pulling his hat down lower over his face to protect him from the sand and then he was gone from view. Ivy buried her head in her hands. Everything seemed to be so screwed up right now. How she had gotten into this mess, she couldn't even remember, but she knew that it was gonna take a bit of work to get out of it again.

...

**The end.**

**Oh my GOD guess what!! You won't care, but me and my friends are going to Europe! I'm so excited! Half of you are probably from there and you're like um... but it's a big deal for me okay! I'm so mega pumped right now you wouldn't believe it. I'm gonna get such a tan!**

**I'm thinking I should change the rating, because right now I'm having to like hardout edit the fights so that they don't swear like every sentence.**

**Thank you to my reviewers! You guys are crack up! I swear everyone was like 'ew, i hate jack' which i'm taking as a good sign, because you're meant to.**

**Okay, I'm gonna let you in on a secret about what's gonna happen with this story, because I need opinions. I have about the next ten chapters sorted out. It's how to end ti that I'm absolutely stuck on.**

**there are two ways this is gonna go.**

**Either (and this is the one i like more) Ivy will run away from the camp with someone who's name is a secret.**

**or Ivy will get kicked out/ finish her sentence.**

**pick one, and trust me, even though the first one sounds better they'll both be just as interesting. **

**So mention it in your reviews, cos I'm good with whatever.**

**cheers**

**xx**

**Bee**


	26. The letter that changed everything

"I'm not sayin' it man" someone muttered from inside the tent.

"Yes you are" that was Fro. Ivy knew because she opened the tent flap as he said it. Everyone was staring at her. She raised her eyebrows belligerently at them and, plopping down on her bed, began to inspect her nails.

"Go" Sparky hissed. Ace muttered something that was surprisingly descriptive at him and then turned around and lay on his bed, with his back to Ivy.

"C'mon Ace" Fin murmured.

"Fine!" he grunted and turned around. "Rocky I'm... Oh c'mon man, this is bullshit".

"Just do it" Eight said.

"No" there was a definite tone of finality in his voice. Ivy looked up from her nails, and raised an eyebrow questioningly . He shook his head, and then frowned at Ace, who was by then lying back down on his bed with his hands behind his head. No one said anything.

"So..." Ivy said in a sarcastic voice, "how's everyone's day going"?

"Is there anything to do in here?" Snake muttered, looking round the room. His eyes rested excitedly on a pack of cards sitting on the floor. "How 'bout we play a game"?

"Man, you scare me when you say stuff like that" Fro said, although he looked quite interested in playing.

"C'mon. It's just a friendly game of poker" Snake implored and Ivy grinned.

"I'm in" she smirked, sitting down to next to Snake who had taken up a seat on the floor and was shuffling the cards.

"Me too" Fro grinned, joining them on the floor. One by one the other boys joined in until everyone in the tent was sitting or in Ace's case lying on the floor. Fin looked pretty uncertain about all of this, and Ivy wondered if he had ever played poker before. Somehow she doubted it.

They played the first few rounds quite quickly and it became quickly apparent that some of the people in the tent had had more practice than others. Fin barely even knew what the hand he was trying to get, let alone how to get them, and Fro had the worst poker face Ivy had ever seen. As was expected Ace and Jack were both unbelievably good and although it shocked the boys, Ivy wasn't too bad either.

"How bout we make this more interesting?" Snake asked with a smirk, after about five rounds.

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Fro looked too interested. This wasn't going to be good.

"You guys heard of this game called..." He paused and looked at Ivy with a smirk and she realised what he was about to say, "Strip poker"?

"Hell yeah" Spark said with a look in Ivy's direction, "I'm so in".

"Me too" Jack grinned, but he had enough manners to not look at Ivy when he said it.

"You boys have fun with that, I'm out" she said and Snake grinned at her.

"C'mon chick, where's your sense of adventure?" He smirked.

"Unless..." Fro said with a sly smile, "You're worried you're gonna lose".

"What? Of course I'm not worried about that, I could beat any of you" she scoffed.

"Then what's the problem?" Snake asked and Ivy glared.

"Fine, I'll play your stupid game" she retorted, rolling her eyes. Eight decided to play quite quickly after that.

"I think I'm out" Fin muttered, standing up and walking away from the group on the floor.

"Aw, Fin, if I can do it, you can do it" Ivy pleaded but he shook his head and sat down on his bed to watch.

"I'll play" Ace said with a frown, "But only 'cause I ain't got nothing better to do".

"Good. It's sorted then. When you don't wanna take anything else off, you quit, but if you play a round you have to follow through" Snake said looking pointedly at Ivy, shuffling the cards quickly and dealing them. Ace won the first hand, and got to keep both of his shoes, unlike everyone else, who was down to one. Ivy frowned. She knew this was a bad idea. After a few rounds of people betting their shoes and socks, the game began to get more interesting.

Snake chucked his shirt into the middle, as did Fro and Eight, until Ivy added a sock to the pile.

"I don't think so chick" Snake grinned, "A shirt's worth at least two socks".

"What? If you put in one shirt, then I'm putting in one sock" she exclaimed.

"No way" Fro disagreed, "Think about like this; how many socks could you make with one shirt? At least two".

"Fine" she retorted adding another. Jack followed suit with a wistful look at his now bare feet. Then it was Ace's turn. Ace had tunred out to be even better than everyone thought he was to begin with, having lost one shoe and nothing else.

"You know..." he said with a small smirk, "If I'm goin' by your rule, then I ain't gotta put anything in; you can't make any shoes with a shirt after all. But since I'm a giving person..." he trailed off and added his other shoe. Everyone showed their hands and Snake gave a triumphant smirk when he won.

The betting in the next round consisted of Jack shirt, Ace's socks, Snake and Ivy's hats, and Fro's bandana. Eight grinned and took off his glasses. Apparently clothes were more important than being able to see. Luckily for him, he won that round.

Ivy was starting to get worried. Although she still had more clothes than Fro and Eight, who were both down to their jumpsuits and boxers, she had a shirt, a jumpsuit and a pair of shorts left before she was wearing less than she would want to be in front of a bunch of sex deprived teenage boys.

Fro bet his jumpsuit the next round, and unfortunately for him, he didn't win. Apparently, just taking off his jumpsuit wasn't enough, because he decided to do a rather interesting attempt at a striptease. This resulted in most of the boys throwing various discarded items of clothing, including a few shoes, at him.

"Alright, alright" he yelled, from behind his arms that he had held up to shield himself, "I'll stop, but I'm out". Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as he took a seat next to a rather uncomfortable looking Fin.

'Round's not over yet" Snake smirked, looking at Eight who was down to his jumpsuit and his glasses, which he had now been told, weren't counted as clothes. He was looking rather worried. "Show us what you got boy" Snake raised his eyebrows at him. Eight looked round shiftily. Then he muttered something under his breath.

"I fold" he groaned, standing up and chucking his jumpsuit on the ground. There were loud catcalls and whistles from around the circle as he glared at everyone and then went to his bed.

"And then there were four" said Jack with a small smile, looking pointedly at Ivy.

"Not for long" Snake muttered slyly, raising his eyebrows at Ace who smirked back.

Ace won the next round, meaning that both Snake and Jack were out of the game. Ace raised his eyebrows at Ivy, who was now wearing a singlet and shorts. He smirked and looked her up and down obviously but he didn't say anything. Ivy gave him a sardonic smile and raised her eyebrows right back at his topless state.

"You better bloody win this boy" Snake muttered bitterly, "I didn't just get naked for no reason". Ace ignored the comment.

"You're not too bad are you" he acknowledged and Ivy smirked.

"Can't say the same for you" she retorted and she picked up her cards, keeping her face neutral when she saw that she had absolutely nothing.

"We'll see about that" he murmured, looking at his cards with a calm expression on his face.

He won. Of course he would win. That was just her luck. She scowled at him as she pulled off her shirt so she was left sitting in a pair of shorts and a bra despite her numerous attempts to keep her shirt on. Surprisingly none of the boys made any comments, but that wasn't really the point. She knew what they were thinking and it was bad enough. She knew she shouldn't have played this stupid game. Now she was surrounded by more than half naked boys all staring at her.

The only thing that made her stay in another round was sheer determination to beat Ace, which she was sure she could do.

"Let's make it interesting" Fro called from his spot on Fin's bed, "All or nothing. Loser takes everything off".

"I don't think so" Ivy glared at him.

"Scared?" Ace smirked

"No" she snapped

"Right..." he muttered, biting his lip in a disbelieving way.

"Fine, let's do this then". How could she have ever thought that she loved this boy; he was the most annoying, confusing, cryptic, all round insane person she had ever met. She wanted to slap him. Ivy could do this. She would win.

She lost. Again. She wasn't surprised. She knew this was going to happen. This was what she got for being too competitive. She wasn't going to do it. They didn't actually expect her to did they?

"I'm not doing it" Ivy said, hoping they would accept her decision. They didn't.

"What? Yes you are" Snake cried.

"You're not getting out of this that easily" added Fro.

"If we can do it, then you can do it" Eight said encouragingly.

"Deal's a deal babe" Jack laughed. Ace didn't say anything. He just sat there watching her with a smirk on his face. He knew, Ivy realised, from the start that this was going to happen. Bloody annoying cocky prick. She was pissed off now.

"This is illegal you know" Ivy said, "I have the right to use my body however I want. And right now I want to keep my clothes on".

"Too bad" Sparky grinned. "You said you were going to so now you have to. And besides, you just made that law up". Ivy opened her mouth to put the rather colourful language she had learnt over the past few months to good use when she was interrupted by the tent flap opening. Federovski stood just inside the flap. He was staring with a bewildered look on his face at the various states of undress around the room. Ivy realised she was only wearing bra and gave a small shriek as she grabbed her shirt off the floor.

"Hey shrink, what's up?' Ace asked sitting cross legged on the floor.

"Hello Joel" Federovski said, pretending not to notice how everyone was dressed, "I came to tell you all that the storm is dying down. And Ivy dear, you have a letter" he added, holding out an envelope to her. Ivy stared at him opened mouthed and then snatched the letter from his hands eagerly. Did Mac finally write back? Had he forgiven her? This was wonderful. She ran over to her bed and huddled up against the wall, ripping the letter open. But there was something wrong. The writing was different, but maybe that had changed over the year she was gone. But the small hearts that dotted the i's were definitely not his. Whoever this was from, it wasn't her brother. She began to read with a strong felling of foreboding.

_Ivy_

_I want to start this letter off by saying that no one, but especially not me, forgives you for what you did. We still detest you and it's only due to extreme pity that I'm writing this letter. No one else thought that it was a good idea to tell you what happened, especially not while you're in the middle of God knows where, but we were at one very distant point in time best friends. And despite everything that you've done to me and your family, you have a right to know this. And before I tell you, I want you to know that despite myself, I am truly, truly sorry for how much pain this will cause you. I know how much you cared for him, even after what you did, and he still cared about you, more than you would believe. That's why it's hard to write this._

_Ivy, Mac was killed. They found his body floating up the river, completely mutilated. They had to call you parents in to make sure it was really him, so some of us had hope, but it was him. Ivy I'm so sorry. If there was a better way of telling you, even if I and to drive up there myself, I would do it, because even you don't deserve this. Don't go doing anything stupid. If you need to talk to someone, I suppose you can write to me. For now, I suppose I can forgive you slightly. Chanel says, that she sort of forgives you as well and so does Tiffany. So all of us are here for a little while if you need us. We're all still at the same addresses, although Tiff's father added another house onto their estate and we got a new storey as well._

_I hope this finds you alright, even if you did completely screw us all over. And I hope you don't have any strange disease like rabies or something, from living in the desert. I'm so sorry Ivy, one last time._

_Kennedy_

_Xoxo_

Ivy dropped the letter on her bed. All the boys were looking at her. They looked slightly alarmed. Ivy wondered if she had made a noise while she was reading the letter that she didn't know about. She didn't say anything as she crawled down into her bed and hugged the covers close around her.

This was a joke. A horrible, stupid, evil practical joke. It was probably Tiffany's idea; she never could handle the fact that Ivy was better than her. Who would do something like that? Lie about their brother being dead. Ivy felt tears well up in her eyes. But if it wasn't true, then why was she crying? Why did everything in her body hurt like she had just been hit by a freight truck? Why was she shaking?

It was because it wasn't a joke. Her little brother, the most important person in her entire existence was dead.

...

**Her friend sounds like a bitch lol.**

**I know what happens next, but it might take a while to get it up, because I have a gi-gantic assignment which is due tomorrow and I havent started. Some thing about slavery. Anyone know any good movies about slavery in America? LOL**

**And sorry abut the strip poker bit being really confusing, cos I know you don't put your clothes in the middle and all that, but it was too confusing to change it and it really isn't actually important anyway.**

**Thanks for the reviews everyone but...**

**It's dead even right now, so I need more! And just to clarify, by run away I meant, leave the camp, not run away like how Stanley and Zero did. So, should she run away or get kicked out.**

**Also no I'm not Amrican lol, I'm from New Zealand. Which is little and next to Australia in case some of you don't know where that is. And I'm going to italy, and England and Paris. I'm so excited! hehe, I know, I'm pretty pathetic.**

**So, please more reviews, otherwise Im too confused to keep writing the story.**

**And lastly, would people be hugely averse to the warden having a niece who came to the camp?**

**if you are just mention it, otherwise I'll bring her in. Not for long, just a few chapters.**

**cheers**

**xx**

**Bee**


	27. Getting over it

From under the covers, Ivy heard voices. Sometimes, they belonged to her tent mates who she thought might sit next to her bed from time to time. Other times, when she was felling worse, they belonged to her brother. He would tell her stories about when they were younger and they used to play at the river, or in the park. He would tell her about his dreams, and his hopes and his fears. On the first night, he talked about her. About how he was scared for her, how he didn't want her to get hurt. How he didn't trust this Jono person that she was always with. She just smiled as she listened to him and clutched at the letter which she hated, but couldn't bear to let go of. It was the last thing she had that reminded her of him. She would rather have a bad memory than none at all.

On the second night, when she lay once again huddled under her sheets, muscles aching from the long day on the lake, he told her about stars. He told her which constellation was which. He told her about Venus, and how, if she went outside right then she would see it. He told her about Aquarius, which was her sign. And she listened and clutched the letter even tighter and smiled when she heard the soft happy tone of his voice. She heard low murmurs coming from outside the covers, but inside she was safe and warm with Mac next to her and his gentle voice lulled her to sleep once again.

On the third night, he didn't come to her. On that night she cried, and the voices outside the sheets, in the cold grew louder and less distant than they usually were. She covered her ears and shook and waited for her brother to come back to her. She waited all night, but he didn't come. She didn't sleep for the next three nights while she waited. But he never came.

On the six night he finally came back. And he spoke to her, soothing her as she grasped at him. She begged him to tell her why he didn't come back, but he shushed her, his warm hands stroking her hair. So she simply snuggled closer to him, and listened to his murmured words about home. About their parents and her friends. And once again she fell asleep smiling.

He didn't come back for a while, and Ivy cried some more as she remembered. But he always came back, and talked her slowly down from the dangerous edge she was teetering on. And every time he came back, she felt a little better.

And then, one month after the letter, he came to her once more, but he was different. He was colder and when she hugged him, he seemed to be smaller, less substantial. He told her about how much he had missed her. How he had wanted her to come home, but she never did. How she had let him down. And before he left he told her something which made her scream and grab at him desperately as he faded into nothing.

He smiled as he leant in closer and whispered. "I'm not coming back again Vee". She cried and hugged him tighter.

"I'm not really here. You know that. You don't need me anymore" he whispered, his cold hand stroking her hair again.

"Yes I do" she murmured, pulling on his clothes, which simply went straight through her hands. He was getting further away from her every second. His voice was faint when he spoke for the last time.

"You know I wouldn't leave you when you needed me" he disappeared and Ivy curled into a ball and cried. She didn't get up the next morning, until Mr. Sir came into the tent and forcibly dragged her out of bed.

"This ain't no Girl Scout camp" he announced gruffly as he threw her a shovel, "I don't know what's goin' on with you, but you best be gettin' over it quick smart".

That night as Ivy lay in bed alone, she didn't remember. Instead she thought ahead. She felt the grief disappearing slowly, as anger replaced it. Someone out there had killed her brother. And someone out there knew who it was. All she had to do was work out who had killed them, find them, and everything would be fine. Regret didn't matter anymore. Revenge however, was more important than ever.

...

**I know it's short, don't worry, the next chpter is like two seconds away, I just split them up because they didn't go together. At all.**

**I finished my assignment way faster than I thought I would so I've been writing for ages. And i can tell you what the emancipation proclamation is... i think that's what it's called anyway.**

**In case you didnt pick up on it, it's been about a month since she got the letter. So this whole grieving thing went on a lot longer than it seems in this chapter. And also, just cause maybe some people might get confused, I don't know, Mac wasn't really there, but he had already said all that stuff to her so she remembered it and she thought it was actually him.**

**Since no one said anything, I'm assuming you're all okay with the niece thing. So she's coming in next chapter.**

**cheers**

**xx**

**bee**


	28. Baby?

Ivy awoke the next morning felling renewed. She had a plan, and although it would have to be delayed a year and a half until she got out of here, it was still a plan. She wasn't happy, but she was no longer sad.

The boys all noticed the difference but were tactful enough not to say anything. When she included herself in their conversations again they pretended that it was nothing different, that she hadn't been completely out of it for the last month. And slowly, Ivy's crazy spell was forgotten and she became her old self again. There was only one thing that was different. Ivy had taken to going on small walks in the early evening, and had found a rather unlikely companion in Ace. It was far from a romantic thing, both of them seeming to come to a silent agreement that –for the time being at least- they would be better to just be friends. Sometimes on their walks they talked. Sometimes, they didn't, and there was a comfortable silence that Ivy didn't find with a lot of people.

She was glad that Ace didn't want to be anything more than friends, because she really wasn't up to anything more at that moment, and she didn't fell up to trying to work out how she actually felt about him. She was quite sure that 'love' that she had felt for him when she had been attacked by the lizard had been completely in her mind. She wasn't in love with him, she was quite certain.

"Hey Rocky" Snake smirked, about a week after she had started talking again, "Do you remember that time we played Strip poker and we all got to see you in-"

"Yes Snake, I remember, thanks for that" she rolled her eyes. They were sitting in the wreck room, Ivy watching the boys play pool. She had completely given up on the game after the incident with Ace the day that Jack came. To be honest, she didn't really miss it all that much.

"Good memories" Fro smirked. Ivy gave him the finger. Ace chuckled and slung an arm casually around her shoulder.

"That ain't hardly appropriate behaviour for a lady is it?" he winked. Ivy glared at him too.

"Yeah whatever, you guys are just sad because I beat you" she said poking her tongue out at Snake who grinned and shook his head.

"That ain't the way I remember it chick" Sparky said, shooting the eight ball into one of the corner pockets and walking over to sit down on the other side of her.

"If I remember correctly, which I do-" Ace began but he was interrupted by a girls voice yelling across the room. Why was there a girl here? As far as Ivy knew she was the only girl.

"Where's Ace?" she cried. As soon as Ace heard the voice he swore loudly and jumped over the back of the couch. Snake cackled loudly and Fro waved to someone.

"Well hey there Lilz" he said sweetly, a fake smile plastered on his face. An extremely pretty girl, with long wavy red hair and big brown eyes smiled back at Fro, clearly not hearing the sarcasm.

"Hello Fro" she smiled, her voice was extremely high pitched and Ivy frowned, resisting the urge to cover her ears, "have you seen Ace"?

"Why yes I have" he smirked and she heard Ace swear quietly from behind the couch, "I think you'll find him behind that couch". The girl looked confused, and suddenly Ace's head popped up from behind the couch with a forced smile plastered on it.

"Lilly. Hi." Hs voice sounded forced as well.

"Ace, baby" she smiled and Ivy felt laughter bubbling forward before she could stop it. She covered her mouth with her hand before more than a small sound could escape her mouth. Who the hell was this girl? More importantly, what kind of _mental patient_ called Ace 'baby'? Ivy waited for him to say something. He didn't.

"I've missed you. It's been far too long" she said walking over and sitting down in the seta that Ace had been in, "Why are you behind the couch?"

"I um, dropped my earring" he tried. The girl gave a high pitched giggle and slapped him playfully on the shoulder.

"You don't have your ears pierced silly" she said. By this point, Ivy had her face buried in her hands, trying not to let the laughter out. The girl finally seemed to notice her because she looked over and her and raised an eyebrow frostily.

"And who's this?" she asked with a fake smile. Ivy tried to answer, but she didn't want to open her mouth in case she burst out laughing at the girl.

"This is Rocky" Snake said quickly, kicking Ivy in the leg warningly. Ivy looked at him with a questioning look on her face. He just jerked his head in the girls direction and made another warning face, as if to say 'don't mess with this girl'. Ivy glared at him and then gave an even faker smile and turned back to the girl.

"Hi" Ivy gushed, and the girl looked back at her as though she was trying to size her up. In the end she made a small accepting kind of noise and spoke again.

"So... You must be new here" she said scornfully. Ivy bit her lip to stop herself from saying anything rude.

"Sure. You could say that" Ivy consented finally. Ace was up off the floor now and leaning on the back of the chair smirking.

"Well... isn't that lovely" she screwed up her nose and Ace snorted.

"Charming" she agreed, turning around and rolling her eyes.

"Well, come one Rock, we should go" Snake said, grabbing Ivy's arm and walking her towards the door. They passed Jack on the way out. Ivy heard the girl's voice again and pulled a face.

"Well, who are you?" she sounded a lot happier to see Jack than she had been to see Ivy.

"This is Jack" she heard Ace say.

"Well Jack" said the girl "It's just fantastic to meet you". Ivy burst out laughing then, she couldn't contain herself anymore. Snake gripped her a little tighter and dragged her quicker out the door. Ivy looked at him shocked.

"Damn Snake, would you calm down?" she giggled and he shook his head at her.

"you have no idea chick" he muttered, "You're lucky I got you out of there when I did".

"Who is she anyway?" Ivy asked between laughs.

"That is the wonderful Lillian Walker. She's the wardens niece" Snake grinned.

"So I guess that means I have to be nice to her?" Ivy sighed, rolling her eyes.

"That's exactly what it means" he winked and Ivy frowned. She could do that. There was really no reason for her to not like the girl after all. It wasn't like she had done anything. Other than call Ace baby. The thought of that made her burst out laughing again. Snake rolled his eyes at her and smirked. "Maybe we should get you back to the tent" he muttered, walking her back to the tent.

...

Later that night, as they lay in bed, trying to fall asleep, someone spoke.

"You know what would be _really_ hot?" It was Snake, "Rocky and Lillz havin' a fight".

"Oh damn, that would be fine. That's some Charlie's Angles shit right there bro" Ace added.

"That's sick" Ivy said from her bed.

"Yeah... Maybe you should just make out with her instead" Snake said dreamily.

"In your dreams" Ivy retorted.

Fro sighed loudly. "Damn right it is".

...

**Ok, before you go any further, don't freak out about that stuff at the start. About her not loving him, I'm not gonna tell you anything, but just don't freak out.**

**On another note. Feel free to review all you want. I'm good with that. And dont forget about the ending, it's still even! Give me some help here people, lol.**

**cheers**

**xx**

**Bee.**


	29. Geopgraphy lessons

"So how long are you gonna stay?" Snake asked Lilly who sat in between the boys with a regal smile on her face. Fin seemed rather besotted with her, in a child-like, crush sort of way. Lilly seemed to find it cute. Ivy found it annoying. She was sorely tempted to slap some sense into the boy, but she managed to refrain. Jack seemed rather interested in her, but he treated her more like a science experiment than anything more. Eight seemed to find her unbearably annoying, and steered clear as much as possible, while Snake and Fro found it absolutely hilarious that she was too stupid to pick up on half of the things they said and spent as much time as they could tormenting her.

Ivy herself couldn't believe that anyone could be quite as unintelligent as Lillian Walker. It was alarming and quite entertaining at the same time. But not only was the girl unbearably stupid, she was also self obsessed and shallow. The thing that Ivy disliked least about Lilly, although it sometimes seemed to inexplicably frustrate her, was her extreme infatuation with a certain D tent member, who Ivy herself had at one point been rather fond of. Of course, now that they were friends, it didn't bother Ivy in the slightest, and in fact she found it relatively amusing watching her zealous flirting. Not that Ace did anything to discourage her and Ivy didn't blame him. After all, Lilly, despite her many mental shortcomings, was quite pretty, and she could hardly blame Ace for being flattered. Sometimes however, Ivy would feel slightly annoyed that he was paying more attention to Lilly. She found it highly puzzling, because she was quite certain that she didn't like Ace as any more than a friend, and she simply put it down to her inner-attention seeker. Surely it was nothing to do with the fact that she had far from forgotten the extremely memorable events of her first week at Camp Green Lake, and how good Ace was at... But she didn't think about that anymore. You didn't think about kissing your friends. That was just creepy. She really should think about Ace less. She would be better to be focusing on the conversation.

"Not long" Lilly replied, looking at Ace out of the side of her eyes to gauge his reaction, "Maybe a week or two".

"Oh no" said Fro with an almost sickening smile, "You never stay long enough Lil".

"Yes, I know. But I get so bored here by myself all morning, I would hardly stay longer. With you boys" Ivy didn't miss the way she looked at her when she said the word 'boys', "out on the lake all day digging to Japan or god knows where, it gets boring around here".

"I think you mean digging to China" Fin corrected, smiling at her.

"No dear, I mean Japan. China's much too far away to dig to" Lilly corrected with a sympathetic smile. Ivy suppressed a groan and covered her face with her hands.

"I'm pretty sure they're about the same distance away Lillz" Snake said with a small grin.

"No silly" She giggled, "Japan's in Asia, and China's next to Australia". Ivy couldn't stop herself.

"Oh dear God" she groaned under her breath, standing up and smiling affectedly at everyone, "I'm going for a walk". She looked at Ace and he stood up.

"I think I'll come" he said with a small smile at the look on Ivy's face.

"Oh, honey do you have to go?" Lilly asked, batting her eyelashes at him. Ivy snorted and Lilly glared at her.

"Don't worry Lil, I'll be back before you know it" he winked and then much to Ivy's surprise, and not at all against her wishes, slipped his hand around her waist and guided her out of the Wreck room gently.

"Oh my god" Ivy groaned as soon as they were outside, "Do not take me back in there, or I'm going to kill her".

"I ain't so sure that's such a good idea Rock" Ace smirked, dropping his hand and walking off in the direction of the holes. His was where they always walked. It was altogether, rather aimless, but it was quiet out there, and there were no distractions.

"She's so stupid. I don't know how you can stand her" Ivy said seriously, rolling her eyes at the memory of the stunning geographical talents that her new found friend seemed to posses.

"So geography's not her best subject" he shrugged, "you could try bein' nice about it".

"Oh, geography's not her best subject huh? And what about yesterday, when she said something about Shakespeare being an artist"?

"Well he is in a way... if you think about it" he tried and Ivy raised an eyebrow at him.

"You've got to be kidding me"

"Why are you so angry at her?"

"Why are you always defending her?"

"Why are you jealous?" he had said it without even meaning to, and as soon as the words came out, he wished he could take them back. Her saw the sharp flash of anger in her eyes and waited for the rage to come. But it didn't. Ivy simply laughed weakly.

"I am not jealous of Lillian Walker" she said with a small smile. For once, Ace seemed to be stuck for words. He wanted to change the subject.

"No... No, I don't think you are" he came up with finally, and the strange thing was, he really meant it. Silence arose after that remark and Ace found that he was exceedingly annoyed at himself. He seemed to have an immense talent for screwing things up. He knew that this silence was far from an awkward one, but that wasn't the problem he was having right then. The problem was that every day, he seemed to be straying more and more into friend territory with Ivy, and he wasn't certain if that was where he wanted to go. He had thought before that maybe what he wanted was more than that, but now he didn't know. And he hated not knowing. Which made him annoyed at Ivy for making him confused. But he didn't want to be annoyed at her. He was happy with how they were. And she seemed happy too. So maybe this friend thing was a good idea, the best they'd had so far.

It was just that every day, he found himself remembering that day early in the morning, when Ivy had come over to his bed and... But he didn't want to remember that. He wanted to be friends with her. Good, solid friends, without any benefits whatsoever. It was just his over active memory, and his sex deprived brain making a bad combination. But all that could be sorted out now that Lilly was here. He could forget entirely about anything non-friendly to do with Ivy, and have a little fun while he was at it. Perhaps Lilly Walker was the best thing to happen to this camp since... since Ivy Stallone.

...

**Thank you guys for the reviews. I think I'v finally worked out why I don't get as many as most people do on each chapter. it's cos I update really fast. Like I do like three chapters a day so people haven't even read the chapter and there's another one up... That or I'm just writing a really boring story lol.**

**Childhood-disruption- haha good guess, you would be extremely right if you thought that she liked Ace.**

**Beautiful Seclusion- thanks lol, I didn't even realise it was that funny. And since it's not important, I'll explain now, Lilly doesn't knw owho everyone is because she only comes once or twice a year and the last time she came Ivy, Fin and Jack weren't there.**

**Kaity B- Are you really from Australia? Thats so cool, Im way jealous, I always wanted to live there, I love your accents. and thanks, but again, I didn't even know that it was that funny... maybe I'm just insane.**

**InsanexKoneko- Um, you're pretty good at those one word reviews LOL, but thanks anyway. And yep, mega competition**

**I might not update for a f ew days so more people have time to review and tell me about the running away thing.**

**cheers everyone**

**xx**

**Bee**


	30. Fallin

"She's really pretty you know" Ivy said, trying to sound casual. Ace didn't answer. Ivy raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you think she's pretty?" she prompted. Ace looked at her.

"Um... Sure why not?"

"Is that a yes?"

"Yeah I guess"

"So you think she's pretty?"

"Yep"

"Prettier than me?"

"What?" he said, looking slightly bewildered. Ivy looked back at him with a frown on her face.

"I was just asking" she muttered. She didn't know why the sentence suddenly popped into her head. She didn't know why she cared if Ace thought Lilly was prettier than her either. It wasn't like it mattered. They were just friends. That was strange on a number of levels.

"I'm not gonna answer that" he grinned, shaking his head slightly. She screwed up her nose at him.

"Why not?" she protested

"Cause no matter what I say you're gonna get mad".

"Why would I be mad if you said I was prettier?"

"Fine, then you are"

"No, now you're just saying that because I told you to" she protested and Ace groaned.

"See?" He muttered, "I told you".

"That's not fair" she crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. He just shrugged.

"You're pretty bloody confusing, even for a chick" he muttered and she poked her tongue out at him.

"Well you're pretty confusing too, but I don't tell you that do I?" she said and then giggled. She had taken to doing that a lot more since Lilly arrived, and it was starting to worry her. Maybe some of the stupidness was rubbing off on her. Ivy stopped talking then, mostly because she was afraid that if she said anything else, she might start talking about how China was next to Austria or whatever Lilly had said. Ace seemed happy to go along with the silence, probably glad to be off the topic of who was prettier out of the two girls.

The silence was broken again, when Ivy staring blankly off into the hazy distance, stopped looking where she was going. And happened to fall straight into a hole. She let out a loud piercing shriek as she fell the five feet to the bottom of the hole. She heard Ace swear loudly from somewhere overhead. But he only sounded worried for about two seconds. When his head peered over the top of the hole, he had covered his mouth with his hand to stop himself from laughing. She glared up at him from the bottom of the hole, thankfully unhurt. When he saw her lying there apparently he couldn't contain himself anymore and burst out laughing. Ivy rose apprehensively to a sitting position, and began to check herself for any injuries. Ace didn't stop laughing.

"Excuse me" she said reproachfully, "I could have been seriously hurt you know".

"Right" he snickered, sitting up and biting his lip to stop himself from laughing, "My bad". The next thing he did surprised her slightly. He jumped down agilely into the hole and sat down next to her. Then he put his hand out and held up her wrist looking at it.

"What are you doing?" she asked bewilderedly. He smirked.

"Checking you for injuries and shit" he said with a shrug, "Does this hurt?" he pressed on her wrist. She pursed her lips and shook her head. She was pretty sure she was absolutely fine, but for some reason she didn't tell Ace that. It was almost nice to have him making sure she was alright.

"What about here?" his hand slowly moved up her arm, applying pressure to different points. She felt a small shiver run down her spine and she ignored it. His hand moved to her knee and she winced slightly, realising that maybe she wasn't as scratch free as she thought. He saw her flinch and frowned, but didn't say anything. His hand moved up to her thigh and the pain was replaced with a loud thudding in her ears that sounded uncannily like a heartbeat... But Ace didn't make her heart beat any faster. At least she didn't think he did. But his hand kept moving, and the beating got louder. She realised that he was much closer than she had realised, the heat from his body radiating onto hers. And she looked up into his deep blue eyes, noticing that he wasn't looking down at her leg anymore. He was staring straight back at her and he gave a small smirk.

Next thing she knew his lips were pressed almost roughly against hers. He kissed her urgently, hungrily. She couldn't feel the ground underneath her anymore, or the dirt behind her back, all she could feel was his body pressing desperately against hers. Everything seemed to be reckless and rushed. But the scariest thing for Ivy wasn't the speed. It was the way that small chills ran up and down her body so she was hot and cold at the same time, and she couldn't focus on anything because he had filled every one of her senses. And worst of all, she liked it. She wanted him to kiss her. Hell, she wanted to kiss him back. She wanted this feeling all the time, and she wanted it with him. In this moment, he was everything that mattered. Nothing had ever scared her more than that. Her heart was beating faster now, but it wasn't from excitement, it was from sheer terror.

She pushed him roughly off her, and climbed out of the hole as quickly as she could.

"Wait, Rocky, wait-" the only thing that made her stop and turn around was the desperate tone of his voice. She cut him off before he could finish.

"I have to go" she stammered quickly, turning and running off back in the direction of the camp. Why did she always do that? Whenever things were going right, she just had to go and screw them up. She heard him swear loudly as she rushed back to the tent. Voices really seemed to carry on the lake.

She wanted to lie down. To think things through, get it sorted out in her mind about how she really felt about Ace. But as it turned out, that wasn't going to happen. Lilly sat expectantly on Ivy's bed when she got back. She didn't even try to disguise her groan when she saw Lilly.

"What the hell do you want? Get off my bed" she glared at her.

"Oh, aren't we in a good mood today. I just wanted to have a friendly chat with you... You know, girl to girl".

"Lilly, fuck off" she spat, stopping herself from throwing Lilly off her bed and onto the floor.

"I want to talk to you about Ace" she began.

"That's just fabulous, you can have him. But get off my bed, I'm going to sleep" she was sick of this conversation already.

"Hold on a second-"

"Lilly, do you know why I got sent here? It's because I killed a girl from my school for leaning on my locker. Now I'll say it one more time- Get. Off. My. Bed." She didn't know where the lies came from, but they were apparently believable because Lilly scrambled off the bed and out of the tent. The last thing she needed right then was Lilly pestering her about Ace. She didn't want to talk about Ace with anyone, let alone her.

Right then, she just wanted some sleep. She could sort everything out tomorrow.

...

**Reviews:**

**Moonwolf27; I'm totally get it if you're pissed off at me. I got your review and I was like okay, then I'll jus keep reviewing every day cos that'z so nice. but then my brother stole the laptop off me and I couldnt update, and thn when i got it back he had used all our internet stuff so it was too slow to upload anything.**

**So sorry, I promise, I'll review as much as I can now.**

**Insanexknoeo;**

**I'm impressed, that was more than one word lol.**

**Z00; I'm dead sorry. That scene is the best i can do for you. And I know that everyone's getting frustrated ad I'm sorry, but it just works. If kissing works for you then good, otherwise, sorry, but theres nothing I can do.**

**Miss-paparella; have i ever told you how FAb yoou are! You always review. You're like queen of the faithful reviewers I over you, you're great. Thank you so much.**

**Childhood-disruption; yeah that,s strange, I thought you had too, but apprently not. I was like why ae you reviewing twice, bt you didn't.**

**You know what i love; when people forget an 'o' in soon and gthey say something like update son. It sounds so gangsta lol.**

**thanks for reading, I'll update tomorow morning.**

**xx**

**Bee**


	31. Girl fight

Ivy had reached a decision. If Lillian Walker didn't stay one hundred meters away from her at all times, she was going to be left with no choice but to punch her. She could not stand that annoying voice any longer. She couldn't take the hair flicking either, or the constant smell of nail polish that hung in the air around her. And all that was ignoring the most annoying thing about Lilly, which was the constant, stupid remarks which Ivy was beginning to think Lilly made on purpose, because there was no way anyone could be that stupid.

It was, then, extremely unfortunate that right after ivy had come to this conclusion, who should decided to try and have another conversation with her but the great Lillian Walker herself.

"Rocky dear" she chirped, prancing over with a meaningful look on her face. Ivy was on her way over to the wreck room, and some of the boys outside stopped to watch.

"What?" Ivy asked reproachfully.

"I think it's time me and you had a good, lengthy discussion about things... In full view of some witnesses" She added the last bit quietly but Ivy snorted when she heard. Apparently the threats last night hadn't gone completely to waste.

"And what is it that we need to have a discussion about exactly?" Ivy was extremely dubious about having a discussion with this girl.

"Oh I think you know" Lilly's voice adopted an almost dangerous tone and Ivy smirked.

"Yeah, listen Lil... I don't really know if that's such a good idea. I mean firstly, I don't really wanna talk to you very much, and secondly, I don't know if know enough small words so that you can understand what I'm talking about anyway" She said turning to walk away. There was a small group of boys gathered to watch them now and more seemed to have noticed the interchange going on between the two girls.

"Don't walk away from me" she snapped, her fake friendly smile disappearing instantly. She grabbed Ivy's arm. Ivy clenched her teeth to stop herself from doing anything to quickly. She took a deep breath and turned back to Lilly.

"Let go of me, Lilly, you don't own me" she spat, unable to control her actions and her tone at the same time.

"Oh, I think you're mistaken there" Lilly replied smugly.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, you stupid white trash, jailbait, whore" Lilly sneered at her. Ivy felt her fists clench involuntarily. There was a large crowd now.

"What was that?" Ivy heard the dangerous note to her own voice, but she was too busy being angry to do anything about it.

"What, can't you handle the truth?"

"If you say one more word, I'll-"

"You'll what? Huh, Rocky, what are you gonna do?" It looked like Snake was about to get his wish.

Ivy felt her anger bubble over, and before she knew what she had done, she reached up and punched Lilly as hard as she could in the face. Calls of 'fight' broke out amongst the crowd and it grew even bigger. Lilly cupped her bleeding nose in her hands and looked down in shock.

"You broke my nose" she screeched, slightly muffled because of her hands. Ivy shrugged and turned to walk off. Then she felt something collide with her, as Lilly tackled her to the ground. She yelled, and the yelling in the crowd absolutely erupted. Loud whistling and cheering broke out, as ivy and Lilly rolled around in the dirt, scratching and kicking at each other. Ivy wasn't sure why exactly she was resorting to fighting like a five year old girl when she actually knew how to fight properly, but maybe it was because she didn't actually want to kill Lilly, as pleasant as that idea sounded. Their biting and slapping, was interspersed with loud screeches and scream as the other one got in a good hit. Ivy grabbed Lilly's hair and pulled trying to get her off, only to find that she had pulled out a small handful of it. She screeched and threw it away. Lilly screamed and put her hands to her head to feel the small hairless patch on her head. Then she got an evil look in her eyes.

"You evil Bitch" she screamed, grabbing at Ivy's hair and tugging.

"You fucking psycho whore" Ivy yelled as she scratched at Lilly's face. They each yelled a few more insults at each other before someone finally decided to break up the fight. Ivy was dragged kicking and screaming away from an equally enraged Lilly, who thankfully looked much the worse for wear. Ivy glared at her, and yelled a few more insults, before she was completely out of view. Whoever had her kept tugging her along by one arm until they reached the tent. Ivy turned around with and crossed her arms angrily, at Fin who had been the one dragging her.

"What do you think you're doing?" both of them cried at the same time.

"What am I doing? What are you doing?" Ivy exclaimed, "Why did you pull me off?"

"What are you thinking, fighting Lilly?" Luke yelled back, completely ignoring her question.

"Why do you care?' she shouted.

"because I don't want anything to happen to you" he exclaimed frustratedly. Usually, ivy would have thought this remark was sweet. Today it just annoyed her even more. Nothing was happening to her, it was Lilly who looked like a half bald stray cat not her.

"You're full of it. It's not that at all, it's that you don't want your girlfriend getting hurt" she glared.

"She's not my girlfriend" Fin protested.

"Damn right she's not, because she doesn't even like you" Ivy spat viciously. Seconds later she felt the regret wash over her. Fin's face looked stricken. She covered her face.

"Wait, Fin, Luke, wait" she backtracked, but he just shook his head disgustedly.

"There's something wrong with you" he spat, looking angrier than she had ever seen him look, "You screw everything up. Everything you touch just falls apart. Everyone who trys to look out for you ends up feeling like shit because you just don't think. Did it ever occur to you that maybe Ace is a person too? When you hurt him, it's not just magically okay again when you decided that you like him again. And me and Snake? We care about you so much you wouldn't believe it, but you're too bloody self-centred and stupid to notice it. Well newsflash Ivy you're not the only person with feelings. The world doesn't revolve around you. And it's about time you stopped blaming everyone else for your problems, because Lilly isn't the reason your life is screwed up. You are. You're the reason everything's going wrong, you're the one who doesn't trust anyone. No wonder you can't open up to anyone, when you don't even open up to yourself... It's time you did some growing up Rocky" then he turned and walked out of the tent.

She didn't try to stop him. She just sat down on the ground and buried her face in her hands, because she knew that everything that Fin said was right. And also because when he said that, she couldn't help but remember the one other person who had cared about her more than anything in the world. But Mac wasn't around to care about her anymore because he was dead. And it was all because of her. It seemed like it wasn't just everything she touched that was falling apart anymore. It was her as well.

...

**Sorry, I think this chapter's a bit crap...**

**Sorry. It's mostly just setting up for next time. because next chapter will be the major huge tunring point in the story and everything is all good and set and i really happy about what's gonna happen, but just have to write it down. And Fin's speech is annoying, but I'm tired and I wanted to finish the chaptr so I went with it anyway. Sorry, I know that's really lazy of me, and if anyone else did it i'd be pissed, but too bad i guess lol.**

**The story's almost finished you know...**

**Only like ten more chapters to go.**

**i'm annoyed because it means i probably won't get to 60 000 words which is what I wanted to get to :(**

**oh well**

**Thanks for reading **

**xx**

**Bee**


	32. Explainations and revenge

**Just before I start, this is the most mega important chapter of the story, and i hope its alright, and I just wrote it, as in finished it like two seconds ago, and usually I wouldn't publish it now, but I really want to get it up, so if it sucks, I'm sorry, but I thought you would all want to read it.**

**ps. Good work Iamthewalrus95, I totally believe that you figured it out before this, I wonder if anyone else did...**

"Ace, do you wanna go for a walk?" she didn't really expect him to say yes. If she was him she wouldn't want to go anywhere with her. He hadn't even talked to her since the night before, and neither had Fin. She could understand them, but she did hope all the same. She felt bad, which was an extremely rare occurrence. She had thought long and hard about what Fin told her, and she had decided to set everything right. It might take awhile, but it was worth it. They were worth it.

"Not really" he shrugged, not even looking at her. She felt something in her stomach twist slightly, but she didn't give up.

"Please?" she spoke softly, not looking away from his face, even though he still refused to look at her. He made a small grunting noise and stood up while the other boys pretended not to be interested. They all exchanged meaningful glances and nudged each other, except for Fin who was determinedly ignoring Ivy, and Jack who wasn't there.

"You got five minutes" he muttered. Ivy felt the smile spread over her face and tried to stop it, knowing that gloating right now wouldn't be the best course of action. They were almost at the door to the wreck room when they were interrupted.

"Ace" Lilly sounded extremely pleased to see him as she came through the door. He didn't look quite as happy and Ivy steadfastly ignored Lilly, wanting to avoid any further arguments; she really didn't feel up to it that night.

"Hey Lil" he replied half heartedly.

"Can I talk to you?" she said, and it didn't really sound like a question. Ace shrugged.

"Kinda busy here Lilly" he told her. She screwed her face up unattractively at Ivy.

"She can wait. It's sort of urgent" she said with a fake smile, grabbing Ace's arm and leading him back over to the couch. He turned to Ivy and gave a rather unapologetic shrug. She turned around and went out the door anyway, trying to keep the disappointment off her face. That was alright she reasoned; this gave her a chance to work out what to say to him. Planning could only be good in this situation.

She wandered aimlessly around the holes out in the early evening heat. She watched the footprints that her shoes made in the sand, that were blown away as soon as they appeared. There were probably snakes out here. And scorpions... And lizards. She really should keep a closer eye on where she was going. In the distance, she saw one of the large sand tornadoes blowing rapidly towards the mountains. She hummed softly to herself, thinking about a lot of things but nothing in particular. Then, completely out of nowhere, she heard a rustling noise behind her and before she had chance to turn around, she felt the ground disappear from under her once again, as she was pushed into the hole in front of her.

She looked up, expecting to see Snake or Fro laughing at her. Much to her surprise it was Jack looking down at her with a small smirk on his face. She glared at him.

"Very funny Jack" she said, dusting off her shirt. He shrugged.

"I try" he smirked and Ivy rose to a sitting position.

"Can you help me out of here?"she asked grudgingly, reaching up a hand to him. He shook his head, the smirk still firmly in place on his face.

"No, I don't think I can"

"What? Well then at least move so I can get out" she said, standing up and walking over the edge of the hole where he was standing. He shook his head again.

"no, I think that you misunderstand me a little bit" he smiled, and from somewhere inside his jumpsuit, he pulled out a gun "you see, you're not going anywhere tonight".

"What the fuck?!" Ivy yelped, scrambling backwards to get away from him, and she found herself pressed closely against the far side of the hole. Where did he get a gun? And more importantly, what the fuck was he doing pointing it at her? He sat down calmly on the edge if the hole, twisting the gun around in his hands admiringly.

"I have to admit, you're quite pretty when you're scared" he smirked, looking down at her. She just stared back at him, still in shock. "When I heard about you, I didn't quite realise just how attractive you were going to be, or maybe I wouldn't have agreed to do this. It's always harder, you see, when they're pretty. You get attached. It makes it all the worse when you... well..." he trailed off with a smirk, waving the gun at Ivy. She glared back at him.

"Are you insane?" she spat, "What the hell is going on?"

"Oh, isn't this sweet. Poor little naive Ivy Stallone, doesn't know what hit her. I don't blame you I suppose. I am rather good at what I do. People often don't realise until it's too late what's happening. But I did think, maybe you were a bit smarter. Apparently not" he was still playing with the gun, and Ivy couldn't take her eyes off it. Was he going to shoot her?

"But then... I do love surprises" the sun glinted off the handle of the gun. Where did he get it from anyway? "You know what else I love?" he added thoughtfully, "Challenges. And my dear, have you ever been a challenge. I never ever expected when I came here that you would be quite as difficult as you were to get alone. But then, I didn't factor in our dear friend Ace. That boy has most definitely grown quite attached to you. I have to say, I'm impressed. You've tamed the beast, as it were. I never thought anyone could make him quite so... Pathetic. But you've done a fantastic job of that. I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes". He had stopped looking at the gun, and her, as he stared thoughtfully off into the distance. Ivy began to move slowly forward as he continued his rant. She didn't know what was happening, but she could gather enough to know that if Jack got his way, she wasn't going to get out of here alive.

"It's really quite amazing to see. He was extremely steady until now. Completely reliable; you always knew what he was going to do in a situation. Even if his reactions were sometimes rather... extreme, they were predictable" she stopped moving as he looked down at her. He smirked some more.

"You look shocked my dear. Are you surprised to find that your... Friend has a dark past? This is a camp for juvenile delinquents you know, it really shouldn't surprise you that much. We all have histories. Take me for example. But then you know all about that. I told you everything... Well, almost everything. And the rest you got from the wonderful Snake, who really seems to have a soft spot for me don't you think? I'm sure he told you all about my 'horrific past', playing hit man for the spades. Charming little story isn't it? But just think, for every bad thing that he told you about me, remember that you beloved Ace was the one in charge. He was the one who ordered everything. Every last drop of blood that was spilled was due entirely to him. You think I'm bad, wait 'til you hear the stories about him. He's done things that would give you nightmares for the rest of your life even hearing about them" he had looked away again, but Ivy was too shocked to move. Was this true? Had Ace really been running an entire gang? Had he really been killing people? Was this the 'past' that he didn't like to talk about? Ivy wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"You're a liar" Ivy spat, glaring at him.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to believe that" he sneered, "But no, far from it. Ace was the mastermind behind every last thing that went down. He was the Ace of Spades, the king of the underground. He was running everything. He was in charge of people three times his age, and do you know why? Because everyone was scared of him. The rest of us needed some type of skill to get into the gang, but not him. He got in just by being the toughest son of bitch you ever laid eyes on.

Of course he's only gone and reformed now. He's gone and got all proper, trying to take care of you. I don't know why he bothered to be honest. You're not really worth it. Sure you're pretty, but all you ever seem to do is hurt him. I would have given up long ago. But he seems to have his heart truly set on you. How sweet. Too bad you've made him weak as well. He's too damn love struck now to realise what's going on right under his nose. Otherwise he would have seen this coming-"

"And what is this exactly?" Ivy scowled, "Are you gonna kill me, is that it?"

"Well... Yes, to put it quite bluntly" he said with a small chuckle. He lifted the gun and pointed it at her but then seemed to change his mind and put it back down by his side again. "But not just yet. There's a few more parts to the story that I really would like you to find out".

"Ace won't let- You won't get away this Jack. You think there aren't people that will look for me?" she was lying through her teeth, and she knew it. There was no one left out there who cared about her anymore.

"Why yes, that's exactly what I think as a matter of fact. But while we're on the subject of people who care about you" he mocked, rolling his eyes, "I heard some rather interesting news. About a certain brother of yours. Being dead. And I was just wondering if you knew how it happened?" the smirk on his face made Ivy feel sick. Who the hell did he think he was talking about Mac like that? And then, just like that, something in her head seemed to click. Memories flooded back to her.

'He killed a little kid you know. That's why he's here'

'There was a boy working for the clubs...He told me to get rid of him'

'They found his body floating up the river, completely mutilated'

'I'm good with knives'

And the last one. The thing she hadn't even thought of. 'he gave me a letter. Asked me to post it'.

Oh god no. He hadn't. She felt something inside her bubble up and before she knew what she was doing, she let out a blood curdling scream and lunged at him. She got one hand firmly around the gun before he tried to jump back away from the hole. She hung on tightly and tugged with all her might. If she got hold of this gun she was going to kill him. A bullet fired into the ground, next to Ivy's foot, but she didn't even notice. And then Jack began to speak again as he struggled for the gun.

"Before I kill you. I suppose you should know" he grunted as he pulled on the gun trying to wrestle it back from her, "this wasn't Ace's idea... Just in case you were worried. Someone else that I think you know came up with it. They say that you owe them something. Something pretty big, a.k.a your life. He told me you screwed him over pretty royally actually. He's called five. But I think you know him by another name. Jono West" Ivy felt something inside her give a dangerous lurch when she heard that name, but she didn't stop struggling for the gun. Another bullet went off in the air. And suddenly, Jack seemed to loosen his grip for one second. Ivy tugged as hard as she could and the gun came flying out of his hands and into hers. She turned it around and Jack froze. She shook her head at him in disgust.

"You're sick" she spat, as she moved the gun right into line with his head, "You fucking deserve this" and with that she pulled the trigger. And then she pulled it again. And again. And again. And she pulled until all the bullets were gone, and all the people in the camp had run out to see what was going on. And then she screamed and kicked at his bleeding, cooling body, as his blood spread thickly over the dirt. Someone grabbed her from behind and dragged her away from him but she didn't even notice who it was.

"You're out of her now girlie" said a voice, but she didn't know, or care who it was. She had her revenge, but it wasn't enough. She wanted more, she wanted to kick him, and punch him over and over. The five bullet holes in his head weren't good enough. She wanted him to suffer forever and ever, until he knew what she had gone through when she lost Mac. And even as she was dragged into the wardens office and handcuffed to a chair, she didn't care about anything, other than the fact that she had just ruined any chance she had at full revenge. Or had she? At the end, Jack had mentioned something else. Someone else. Jono West. At the thought of that name, the churning returned, and Ivy felt her sight grow dimmer as her thoughts began to fuzz at the edges. Everything became unclear and it got darker and darker, until she couldn't see anything anymore, and her conscious thought stopped working as she blacked out. And it was then that she began to remember.

...

**Wow. I'l give you some space to get over that.**

**Okay, so now THIS IS IMPORTANT. READ IT!**

**I've decided to go with the getting kicked out thing. And I'm not gonna give away the whole story, but and this is big. Ivy will at some point, meet all of the spades. :O:O I know, shock lol. But, I was thinking, wouldn't it be cool if you guys got to be in the story if that makes sense. so here's how this is going to work. Everyone who reviews can if they want to, make up a character based on them (if they want the character to be based on them I guess) and then the character gets to be in the story.**

**Okay, i don't need; Two, Five, Six, Seven (actually maybe I could use a seven), Jack, Ace and King. Other than that, all the other cards are totally up for grabs (that's 1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, Queen). So make up a character! It would be really cool. And you even get to decided on their 'talent' hehe. No driving and no knives, but anything else you can think of would be cool.**

**And it would be nice not to get like everyone wanting to be queen, cos that's not exactly gonna work. And plus, some guy characters would be nice too, cos they can't all be chicks otherwise they'd be a pretty shit gang, not tryna be all hatin on girls and that cos um, I am on, but you know what I mean.**

**Anyway, I'm gonna stop writing now, but please make up a character, I think it would be cool!**

**xx**

**Bee**

**(Please??LOL)**


	33. history

_The beat of the music moved the walls of the club. It was so loud, the bass so strong that it felt like a second heartbeat, the way it moved through your body. All around the room, on stages or even tables, people moved in time. The lights flashed different colours, disorientating people for a few seconds. But that might have partly been the alcohol. In the small courtyard outside, with the brightly lit pool and the large squashy sofas, a small group of people laughed and drank together. A girl with long blonde hair and wicked green eyes took a long sip of her drink and giggled. She didn't know most of the people who sat around her. But it wasn't important. The girls were pretty and the guys were hot, why did it matter what their names were? The boy next to her, with the large, real diamond earring and the perfect light olive skin slipped his arm around her shoulders. He laughed loudly at something one of the others had said. The girl hadn't heard it. She was having trouble focusing. Maybe she had had just a little too much to drink. But this wasn't the first time. She was used to this feeling by now. She laughed along with them, just so no one asked any questions. She stood up, swaying lightly on her feet._

_"I'm hot" she announced, her voice slightly slurred, "I'm going for a swim". And with that, she pulled off her shoes and jumped into the pool, twenty-five thousand dollar dress and all. She resurfaced and gave a shriek of laughter, swimming back over to the side, where the boy with the earring was sitting laughing at her. She reached up and ruffled his hair with a wink._

_"Don't do that" he said, "You remind me off my sister when you do that"._

_"Oh yeah?" she grinned, "Would your sister do this"? She reached up and grabbed his collar pulling his head down closer so she could kiss him long and hard. His hand reached behind her head, pulled her closer to him but she pushed him gently away with a teasing grin._

_"Uh uh, baby" she waggled her finger at him jokingly, "not yet. I'm still bored. You don't get anything from me until you do something to excite me... if you know what I mean". He grinned and shrugged._

_"That can be arranged" he reached out his hand and she grabbed it pulling herself out of the pool. She reached her hand up to her hair and wrung it out mussing it up slightly afterwards. Her dress was stuck to her and when she put her shoes back on they were slippery._

_"Let's get out of here" she said in a bored tone. He nodded and took her hand, saying a brief goodbye to the others. Most of them were too drunk to even notice as he led her to the door and they disappeared back inside the club and then out of the front entrance. And that was when she saw it. The car was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. The dark crimson sparkled in the white lights outside the club, making it impossible to look away from. It was small and sleek but more than anything, it looked fast. It was exactly what she wanted._

_"Hey, baby" she began, eyeing up the car hungrily. It was parked right next to their car and she could see the alarm light flashing from inside it as they walked closer, "do you know how to hotwire a car?" She smiled sweetly after the sentence and he looked at her with his eyebrow raised._

_"Why would you want to..." he trailed off as he caught sight of the car, and then a wicked smile appeared on his face. "You want to steal a Ferrari Enzo? I like the way you think"._

_"Well... I try" she smirked, looking round the park to see it practically empty. They could do it, right now and not get caught. She felt a thrill of adrenaline rush through her. They looked at each other for a long time, smirks plastered on their faces and then he shrugged._

_"Let's do this" he said, and then unceremoniously, walked over to the car and smashed the window. A shrill beeping echoed down the street. He unlocked the door as all eyes sought them out. She ran round the other side and jumped in, giving an excited yelp. He fiddled with something under the dashboard as people began to realise what was going on. Someone gave a loud yell and began to run towards the car. She tapped her foot._

_"Hurry it up" she said warningly. He sat back and grinned, flipping the car into reverse and pressing his foot down on the accelerator, backing out of the park. The man was getting closer to the car._

_"Don't sweat it baby. It's all good" he said, and then moved the car back into drive and sped off down the road. The man stood helplessly, watching his car speed away as they laughed. The girl stuck her head out the window, blonde hair flying in all directions and she gave a small wave as the people behind them grew smaller and smaller. Soon everything was out of site, and they were on a long almost deserted road that ran along next to a beach. The boy turned the radio on full volume and hip hop music blared through the speakers._

_"This car's worth over a million dollars you know" he smirked, speeding up. She had no idea how fast they were going, but it was fast enough that everything around them was blurred. She giggled and looked in the back seat. A closed cardboard box sat there, and she grabbed it, pulling it into the front seat and opening it. It was full of bottles. They were full of a liquid, but there were no labels. She lifted one up, opened it and sniffed. Alcohol. She grinned and took a long swig. It burned slightly as it went down, but she ignored it. Her head was buzzing, and everything was swaying slightly. She leant over and kissed the boy on the neck. He grinned and put his hand on her thigh._

_"Babe" she murmured, moving up to his ear and running a hand through his hair, "Can I drive"? He shook his head. "Please?" she pleaded, her hand moving from his head to his shirt and beginning to undo the buttons. He shrugged and pulled over._

_"Alright. But only for a little while" he said, opening up the door, and getting back in the passenger side, after she had climbed over the gear stick to sit herself behind the wheel._

_"Thank you baby" she smiled, then pressed her foot hard on the accelerator. She screamed excitedly as they sped, far too quickly down the deserted road. The sound of waves crashing onto the beach was barely audible over the low hum of the engine, and the radio. The boy leaned over and began to play with the strap on her dress. He was kissing her shoulder lightly, while his other hand lifted up the hem of her dress. She went a little faster and felt the adrenaline pump through her even quicker. Another car rounded the bend at the end of the road, where it turned away from the beach and wound back into the city. She wasn't even looking at the road anymore, as she felt around blindly on the ground for the bottle and then took another swig. The other car began to toot at her. She looked up and squinted. Did she know them? She didn't think so. She giggled anyway, and took her hand off the wheel to wave at them. And then she noticed something a little wrong. Was it just her or was the car a little too close to her. The person in the car was waving their hand frantically. What on earth were they doing? Ivy waved back again more eagerly. That car really was extremely close. Everything was shimmering around the edges. Suddenly the car swerved wildly._

_And then she hit it. And she screamed, only this time it wasn't excited. Metal crunched and there was the loud screech of rubber on the roads as the cars slid off the street and onto the sand of the beach. She felt her body being thrown everywhere, but it had no room to move. She hadn't stopped screaming, and there were yelps coming from the seat next to her. The car in front of her flipped and slid some more until it came to a rest sitting upside down near the water. Their car slowed and then smacked softly into the other car once again, stopping pressed against the small green civic._

_She felt tears streaming down her face and she heard screaming. It took her a few seconds to realise that it was coming from her._

_"Jono" she whimpered "Jono? Jono!" she turned her head saw a limp, unconscious body crushed between the dashboard and the seat. She felt her mouth open again in a silent scream. In front of her, she saw someone emerging from the other car, climbing out through the window. They were screaming as well. They were calling someone's name. Over and over. She felt blood running into her eyes but she couldn't lift her hand to wipe it away. And in front of her, the person was still screaming. Someone was dead. In the other car, someone was dead. And Jono. Jono was unconscious, right next to her. There was blood everywhere. All over her, and him and the car. But in the other car, someone was dead. Someone she didn't know. It was her fault. She shouldn't have been drinking. She shouldn't have been going so fast. She shouldn't have stolen the car. But she had, and she was, and she did. And now someone else was dead. All because of her._

_The cops came later. She told them it was all her. That Jono hadn't done anything. She didn't know whether they believed her, but as she watched Jono being wheeled way on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over his face and blood covering his suit, she hoped they did. He would be lucky to survive they had told her. And if he did, she didn't want him coming back to a bunch of criminal charges. Perhaps this would be the end of it for him. They should have stopped when they had the chance. But now that it was too late, maybe one of them could get out alright._

_..._

_As far as the court new, she had forced Jono into the car. She had hotwired it, and the man who insisted that he saw the boy driving was completely insane. She had been drinking and not watching the road. As far as the court knew Jono had told her to stop. He had tried to get her to slow down, but she wouldn't listen. As far as they knew, he had nothing to do with it. But that wasn't quite good enough for him._

_After the trial, a boy in a wheelchair came forward. His earring still glinted and his skin was still the perfect olive colour, but his face lacked all of the shrewdness it had once possessed. A group of about five people stood behind him. She didn't know who they were, but they scared her. They were all glaring at her._

_"Hi Jono" she murmured, looking determinedly at the ground. When he spoke, his voice was disgusted._

_"What, you can't look at me Ivy? Can't bear to see what you did to me?" he spat. She looked up dubiously._

_"It wasn't just me" she muttered, wondering if she was allowed to disagree with him now he was in a wheelchair. Was that a bit unethical?_

_"Oh really? You think I did this to myself?"_

_"Jono, you were in it just as much as I was"_

_"Are you insane? Was I driving? It was all you, don't try and put this on me" he hissed viciously._

_"You're the one that stole the bloody car" she said, starting to get annoyed, "Just because I'm the one who's getting in trouble for this, it doesn't mean you didn't do anything. I'm spending two years in the middle of nowhere, for you". He just shook his head with revulsion._

_"You've ruined my fucking life. I can't ever walk again, and you're trying to blame me? You're insane. You deserve to be put away"._

_"Fuck you Jono" she replied, turning to go. And then she had second thoughts and turned back one last time, "I'm glad in you're in a fucking wheelchair. You're a selfish bastard, I hope I never see you again". And then she left, and got on the bus._

And then she woke up. And she was still on the bus, only she was going the wrong way. Camp green Lake got further and further away from her. And she saw Snake and Fro and Eight and Sparky and Fin just staring blankly after the bus. And more than anything, she saw Ace, who wasn't there anymore. He was back at the tent. It wasn't gonna make things any different, him being there, he said. But Ivy wished that he was. It would have been nice to see him just one last time before she went. But the boys were still getting smaller and smaller until she couldn't see them anymore, and then it hit her, that she was never going to see him again. Ace was gone. Forever. She closed her eyes and waited for the tears to come, but they didn't. She couldn't cry. She just sat there on the hard bus seat, for hours on end, with her eyes shut, remembering and more importantly, trying not to forget.

And when she finally opened her eyes, she saw it. The large sign, with flowing, old English script, that read,

'Lakeview Mental asylum'.

...

**Okay firstly, I am soooooooo sorry for spliting them up. I read this book once where an author kept doing that and I hated it. But then I just realised that I did it to you guys. So I'm sorry. Really really sorry.**

**Now... on a happier note:**

**I have so many people wanting to be characters, and all of them are really good. The problem is that they're all girls except for two of them. But, it's okay because some of them are really alike. Sooooo I'm gonna sort of combine them maybe.**

**Iamthewalrus95- Oh my god, I absolutely love your character. Her history's like, totally fab! I'm gonna change it just a little, but i love it. Would it be okay if I made her a guy perhaps? or like, if you want (and only if you want to) you could make another character but it was a guy and then I could use him instead, and you would definitely be in the story? it's fine if you dont want to.**

**Moonwolf27, I love your character! But is it okay if I change the spelling of the name because otherwise I'll just keep speling it wrong and it'll piss me off. It is said like renee right? And I might have to change how she looks, because right now she sounds quite a lot like Ivy, and I don't want it to get confusing.**

**InsanexKoneko- i love your idea, I was thinking of something a little like it, but is it cool if I edit the appearance just a bit, like maybe one of them could have all black hair and the other one could have all white or light blonde hair? And would it be okay if I made them into twin brothers? because I can totally see that working out. And plus that gives me more guys lol.**

**HBIC- Thank you for reviewing! It was so nice too. And thank you soooooooooooooo much for giving me a guy. he was a really good one too. I'm definitely gonna use him.**

**beautiful seclusion- I like the idea of a bodyguard! It's the first non gun/ knife related thing that I got lol. But yeah, I really like the idea. I'll definitely use her. if you want to, could you make a another guy bodyguard? Only if you want.**

**ZOO and Miss-Paparella- I was thinking I would combine your characters a little, because I can see how they would fit together. **

**Okay, this is for everyone lol; Could you please not make anymore girl characters if you're gonna make one... Except Queen! I still need a queen. And if you're gonna make a queen, can she please not be, like all little and shock people when she's tough. she kinda already needs to be cos she's like the mum of the group. And nothing to do with knives or guns. And I forgot to tell you guys before, but their number knid of corresponds to how high up they are in the group. So like 1 is kinda the bitch of the group lol. Just so you know if someone else wants to make a character. Okay sorry that was so long, I'm done now.**

**Okay one more thing; next time, when I'v worked it all out, I****'ll tell you guys whos characters i'm using, and what number they are, butI haven't worked it all out yet.**

**xoxo**

**bee**

**ps. you guys dont have to say sorry for giving me long reviews! Thats good! Be like 'man, you should be so grateful' not sorry lol.**


	34. Threats, Insanity, and a white wall

"Hey man" Ace didn't answer. He never answered anymore. He had pretty much stopped talking, unless it was to yell at someone, or piss someone off enough for them to start a fight with him. He was on the verge of being kicked out, the warden told him multiple times. He didn't care. He didn't care about anything anymore. He was an angry, silent, heartless machine, ever since she left. No one said her name around camp anymore, unless they wanted to die. It had been over a month and he still hadn't said anything to anyone about her. People had taken to looking at him nervously whenever he came into a room. A bit like how they used to look at him, before she showed up. It was almost as if she had never been there. Day after day, the same thing happened; he woke up, went out on the lake, dug a hole, came back and spoke to no one. He was too guilty to speak. He could hardly even think.

Because all of this was his fault. If he had of been there, then this wouldn't have happened. Every day, he had walked with her, but that one day, he hadn't gone. Because he was so selfish and stupid and inconsiderate. If he hadn't of gone with Lilly instead, she would still be here. If he had of been there, everything would have been fine. But there were too many ifs and not enough facts. He wasn't there, he did go with Lilly and nothing that he thought was going to change that. Maybe it was time to stop moping about her and do something. But what could he do, with him stuck in the middle of nowhere and her in a psych ward. He couldn't believe they sent her there. They said she was crazy and that was where she deserved to go. He didn't know why she killed Jack, but whatever it was, he knew she would have a good reason. The others agreed with him. He knew, because he'd heard them talking about her once, when they didn't know he was outside the tent. It was lucky they had said that, because if anyone of them had of said anything bad about her, he didn't know what he would do.

He had to get her out of that place. She shouldn't be there. And the more he thought about it, the more a plan began to form. He stood up suddenly and walked over to Fin who was sitting on a table writing a letter. He looked up at Ace, alarmed and seemed to barely stop himself from shrinking away from him.

"Hey kid" Ace said, forcing a small smile. Fin's mouth dropped open. He didn't answer for at least thirty seconds as he stared at Ace in shock.

"Who're you writing to?" he asked, trying not to get annoyed.

"Um, my, um... My Dad, Ace are you okay?" he sounded pretty dubious.

"Well sure I am boy, listen can you do something for me?" he questioned, the smile still on his face, although it wasn't forced anymore.

"Um, yeah, yeah sure" Fin slowly began to smile back as he got over the shock of Ace talking.

"I need you to write a letter for me" he said with a small smirk. Fin wanted to ask why he didn't just write it himself, but he stopped himself. That probably wasn't a good idea.

"Okay" he put the piece of paper that was sitting in front of him to the side and grabbed a new piece, "tell me what to write".

"Say..." It took him a while to work out what to say and longer for Fin to write it all down.

"Do you want to read it?" Fin asked him, once he was done. Ace nodded and took the letter. The neat, linked handwriting read;

_King,_

_I have a job for you. There's a girl at Lakeview mental asylum. Don't worry, she's not crazy. She's registered as Ivy Stallone. Find her, get her out and keep her out. I'll be back soon._

_And I want you to look for someone else for me. He lived in Beverly Hills, I don't know where he is now. He's supposed to be dead. I want you to make sure. His name's Mac Stallone. If you're not sure if you've found him, ask the girl, she'll know. And don't let her get hurt. If you fuck this up, I'll hunt you down, cut your eyes out and kill you._

_That's all._

_Ace._

...

The room was too white. After two months of staring at the same white wall, thinking about the same people, things started to get a bit repetitive.

"Good morning Ivy" said the doctor. She couldn't remember what his name was, mostly because she had learnt very quickly to tune out everything that he said. She wasn't crazy, she knew that. But in this place, it was easy to forget that. She shouldn't be here. She was completely sane. She told the doctor that.

"I'm not crazy" she told him and he smiled and nodded understandingly, and made a note on his small clipboard. She wanted to slap him.

"I'm really not" she persisted. He nodded some more, and made another note.

"Tell me dear" he said, adjusting his thick-rimmed glasses, "how do you feel when you think about the boy Tyler?"

"Tell me, how do you feel, knowing that the last two months of your life have been a complete waste of time, because I'm not crazy?" she rolled her eyes.

"Maybe not in the usual way, no" he finally agreed, "but you did shoot a boy". He knew she wasn't crazy. Or she was quite certain he knew. But he refused to agree with her, no matter how many times she said it. Maybe, Ivy considered, he had started to like her, and he knew that if he agreed with her, then she would get carted off to jail before she even had time to blink. The warden had told her she was lucky to be here at all, but they truly believed that she was disturbed, she said. That made her laugh. The woman who spent her whole life making boys dig holes was calling her disturbed?

"It was his own fault" she said blankly, deciding to resort to her usual trick of not listening to him.

"Let's go for a walk. How does that sound?"

"It sounds just fabulous" she replied sarcastically. He smiled and pretended not to notice her tone of voice. The grounds of Lakeview were extremely nice, she had to give them that. Flowers bordered the neat cobblestone paths and a waist high brick wall ran right around the grounds. Palm trees grew on either side of all the doors and small benches, like you found in a park, were occupied by various doctors and patients. But for all the high pitched chirping of the birds, and the perfect green grass, it didn't compare in the slightest to the endless desert that was Green Lake.

Ivy's doctor led her over to one of the benches and they sat down.

"Perhaps today we should talk about why you decided to kill Tyler Jenks" said the doctor. He said this to her every day, and every day for the last two months, she had told him the same thing.

"I didn't decide to" she replied, monotonously, "It was self defence".

"Wonderful, yes. But let's assume for one moment that you did decided to, why would you have done that?"

"I don't know doctor. Maybe because he was trying to kill me" she enunciated every word, glaring at him. "He pulled a fucking gun on me, what was I supposed to do?"

"And where were the other when this happened? What about..." he looked down and studied a list on his clipboard, "Jermaine? Why couldn't he help you"?

"Who the fuck is Jermaine?" Ivy scowled, well over trying to be civil, "And what is that"? She grabbed the sheet off the clipboard and studied it. It had a list of names on it, and at first she didn't recognise them. It wasn't until she thought about it that she realised they were the boys from in her tent. There was a very brief history after each name.

"Ivy, please don't touch my papers" he smiled calmly. Well, if she was going to be stuck here, she might as well have some fun with it.

"I'll touch whatever I bloody want. I'm crazy, you can't tell me what to do" she hissed, clutching the paper closer to her. "What are you doing with this anyway? Are you some kind of creepy, paedophile stalker or something. What do they have to do with anything?" She was really sounding crazy now.

"Ivy calm down please" he said, reaching over to touch her arm. She jerked away.

"I'm fucking insane, I don't have to be calm" she stood up. He moved closer, looking slightly worried.

"Ivy-"

"Stay away from me" she screeched, stopping herself from smirking when other patients started staring at them worriedly. She turned and ran back inside, laughing as soon as she was out of earshot of the doctor. This ought to be interesting tomorrow.

The downside of her plan turned out to be that now she was stuck back inside, with nothing to do. So she thought about anything she could, and the first thing that came to her mind, that was the same thing that always came to her mind first, was Ace. And how much she missed. She missed him so much it hurt. If only she had had a chance to explain what happened. Now he thought she was some psycho who had killed Jack for no reason, when all she could think about him waas how she should have kissed him at least once more before she left. She would never forgive herself for not saying goodbye properly. Even if he didn't want to see, her, which he hadn't she should have made him see her. What he wanted had never stopped her before, so why did she let it then?

Oh, she didn't want to think about this. She didn't want to thin about anything. She wanted to scream. This place was driving her insane. Literally. If she didn't get out soon, she was going to have to kill herself.

...

**yOeMo-NESS, I LOOOOOVVVVEEEE the sound of this guy. He's perfect. I'm definitely gonna use him, if that's cool. I've written up like a mini profile thingy for him, but if you want me to change it, like if the age is wrong or something, then definitely tell me. Are you really friends with someone like that? jealous much, lol. My friends are all just, like, white, and boring.**

**_Beautiful seclusion-_ Okay, I love your idea really I do, but, and it's kind of a big but I have one major issue with it. I want Ace to be really shocked when he's in love, because that kind of thing doesn't happen to him. And if he had been before, then it isn't really such a big deal. And plus, I don't want him to be in love with someone else when he met Ivy, because then she's not necessarily like the one and only, and I want her to be special. God that sounds GAY lol. But you know what I mean. But I think I'll do something along those lines, cos I do like it. I'd tell you more, but I don't wanna give anything away to anyone, because I like surprises lol. But I do love it. Sorry for not using it. If she meets any of the other gangs, then she will DEFINITELY be in them, it's just that I already have a whole bunch of girls and I can't have anymore, and Wish is quite a lot like the some of the others. But I really am gutted that I'm not gonna use her... Damn, now I'm having second thoughts. I don't know. We'll see what happens.**

**Okay, I'm posting a list of the spades as the next chapter, so everyone can see if I used their characters or not. Some of them are joined together and it's all a bit confusing, but don't worry, I'll try and explain it as clearly as I can.**

**Love ya**

**cheers**

**xx**

**Bee**


	35. Meet the Spades

**Okay, before I start. I hate these things, because I read all of them, but then as soon as I've read them, forget who was what so I'll just tell you that the only things that are realy important about these charcters are their number and their skill, because I'm not going to call them by their names so if you don't want to read all fo this, then those two things as well as probably the appearance are the things to read. I've left out any history that happened after they joined the gang because i still want some things to be a surprise hehe. Okay, read away.**

**All spades can fight using fists, and knives as well as being able to shoot. If their talent is with one of those things, it's because they're amazing at it.**

**And all the spades have tattoo wherever they want it, of shockingly... A Spade. I had written it in when Ivy had the fever and she was sleeping with Ace and she felt it on his back, but then I changed it cause it sounded retarded. But now it's back because I like it. Hehe.**

**1-Male- Tyrone Carter**

Age: 16

Skill: Computer genius

Appearance: short and lean (not skinny, lean lol), with tightly curled black hair, dark skin and brown eyes. He sometimes wears glasses, but not usually.

Brief history: 1 joined the gang as soon as they split off from los jugadores. He was the resident genius at his old school, but left early, because he wasn't being 'challenged enough'. He decided to put his skills to more practical use, planning all of the heists/ technical missions that the Spades decided to undertake.

**2-Male- Ricardo Sanchez (Miss-Paparella)**

Age: 22

Skill: Contortionist/ acrobat

Appearance: Even smaller than 1, 2 has bleached blonde hair in a buzz cut, big brown almond shaped eyes and olive skin.

Brief history: The newest addition to The Spades, 2 is generally in the background of missions. He was only taken on a year ago, when the old two decided to switch sides, but the decision has yet to be regretted. Due to his small size, and his flexibility, as well as his admirable Kung fu skills, he's pretty useful to have around. He gave up on his Cirque Du Soleil dreams when his sister was killed in a drive by shooting. Now he's in The Spades to 'stop everyone else who might hurt people'.

**3-Male-Toby Fox (HBIC)**

Age: 19

Skill: Makes firearms.

Appearance: extremely athletic, with Steely Grey eyes that have a sharp intelligence and dark hair that he keeps in a buzz cut, 3 is one of the more intimidating physically.

Brief history: 3, sometimes known as 'Gunslinger' because of his exceptional speed and talent at using, as well as making firearms, is another one of the Spades who joined after the big secession. His size, and skill with his hands, as well as his guns is rather intimidating, and his personality does nothing to change this image. Originally coming from an upper class family, living with his Father, and Step mother, he attended a prestigious boarding school until the death of his step mother on his 14th birthday. But the public high school he attended next did nothing to dispel his cocky swagger, or his quick wit. His fathers death when he turned 17, however, sent him well and truly off the rails. His interest in guns and fighting reached an all time high, and he trained until he was the best shooter around. Then he joined the spades, hoping to get a chance to use his talents on people didn't appreciate what they had.

**4-Female- Laine Halloway (Iamthewalrus95)**

Age: 14

Skill: Explosives.

Appearance: 4 is by far the smallest person in the gang, and her sweet face has a tendency to confuse those that don't know her, giving her opportunity to get the first hit in. She has shoulder length wavy brown hair and hazel eyes.

Brief history: The miniscule number 4 definitely doesn't have a personality that corresponds to her size. Her age and height do nothing to change her fiery personality or her colourful language, in fact, they probably make her worse. The one thing 4 really can't stand is people underestimating her, and she doesn't hesitate to set them right. Her reactions are almost as volatile as the explosives that she excels in making. Her interest was 'sparked' when she was dragged along to her father's office one day. As it turned out, being a weapons scientist for the government wasn't quite as boring as Laine had thought it might be. Soon enough she was tagging along there every day she could, and visiting after school, until she knew just about as much as he did about explosives. And after the assassination of her lawyer mother and her beloved father, what was to stop her from putting her new found knowledge to use as the 4 of Spades?

**5- No one**

**Previous 5: Male- Jono West.**

Age; 20

Skill: Safe cracker/ lock picker.

Appearance: Olive skin (he's part Greek), brown hair and blue grey eyes. He's really good-looking and has a bit of a thing for aviators.

Brief history: 5's earlier years were spent in the largest mansion in Beverly Hills, with all of his mother's Oscars, and never his mother. Although he never really excelled at school, he definitely had a talent with the ladies, and a certain fascination with locks. Particularly the ones on cars. Except when he was too drunk to remember how to pick them. Then smashing the window in worked just as well. Safe's fascinated him too, although he didn't really need the money. It wasn't until he turned 18 that he found something that he couldn't buy his way into a.k.a, the Spades. Luckily for him, his size, good looks, and talent with and form of lock got him in anyway. He never did give up on the wild life style of Beverly Hills, though and after going through girl after girl, he finally met one who managed to land him in a wheelchair for life.

And so it was out of the Spades for him, leaving an open spot just ready to be taken.

**6-Male-Litrell Savage**

Age: 22

Skill: Driver

Appearance:

Brief history: 6, another member who joined immediately after the split, is arguably the best driver in the world, and definitely the best driver in America. There was just one problem. After being kicked out of school after school, going through eight high schools in three years, no one would take him. His past wasn't a problem for the Spades, however, who were rather glad to find such a talented person in such a tricky position. He was straight in, happy to have a job where he could use his driving skills and his fighting skills equally. The only problem was that 6 came complete with a catch phrase "It's because I'm black isn't it"? He seemed to have somewhat of an obsession with racism, and was constantly on the lookout for anyone who wanted to have a go at his skin colour, making it rather difficult for anyone other than 1 to have a conversation with him.

**7-Female- Holly Orlando (InsanexKoneko, Kaityb)**

Age: 18

Skill: Assassin/ pyromaniac

Appearance: platinum blonde hair and light grey eyes, as well as extremely pale skin. Wears only bright colours 9except on missions)

Brief history: 7 is one of the most volatile people in the spades. She has spent a few brief sentences in jail, after her and her brother blew up their school science block (for which they were also expelled) and then for causing severe bodily harm to some girls who confronted her after the incident. But for all that, 7 is the nice one of the dynamic duo, smiling and laughing most of the time and wearing bright colours, which is a nice contrast to her much darker counterpart. She is a skilled assassin and makes a dangerous team with her brother, but 7 also has somewhat of an obsession with fire and a certain other Spade. After Ace was caught and sent to Green Lake, she went slightly crazy, and ended up trying to stage a bank heist by herself. It didn't go off quite as planned and she only recently returned from 12 months in a Chicago prison.

**8-Male-Olly Orlando (InsanexKoneko)**

Age; 18

Skill: Assassin

Appearance: Dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes, but pale skinned like his sister. 8 wears all black or dark colours and is the exact opposite of his sister.

Brief History: 8 is the angry one of the twins, preferring killing people to talking to them. He's very over protective of his sister, and get's angry easily if anyone does anything to her. It seems that that reaction is mostly because he's under the false impression that she can't take care of herself. He's never been happy with them being in the Spades, and is constantly on the lookout for people trying to screw them over.

**9-Female- Renee Summers (moonwolf27, Beautiful Seclusion)**

Age: 19

Skill: Body Guard

Appearance: 9 has a classical beauty that doesn't really go at all with her cold, violent personality. She has a shock of long curly red hair and porcelain skin, with cat-like violet eyes. She's tall and lean, and is made almost entirely of muscle.

Brief history: 9 had what was possibly one of the more troubled pasts in the Spades. Her mother was killed by her alcoholic father when she was nine and she moved in with her best friend Michelle to get away from him. But two years later, Michelle was killed in a drive by and ever since, 9 has been on a mission to get revenge for her mother and friend. She trained in almost every form of hand to hand combat imaginable, including boxing, muay thai and judo. She also trained with firearms, and is dangerous with a range of weapons. She spent most of her life after that living on the streets, robbing gas stations and stores to get money. When she was 17, she got into a fight with one of the spades, and pretty much beat him into the ground. Luckily, Ace came along in time to stop the fight, and more importantly recruit Renee as the next 9. Her astonishing beauty, and cold attitude mean that most people are intimidated by her, but 9 doesn't mind. That's the way she likes it.

**10-Male- Javier De La Rosa (yOeMo-NESS)**

Age: 20

Skill: Body guard

Appearance: Extremely muscular, short black hair and deeply tanned skin (he's Latino if that help you picture him). He has understanding green eyes, despite his hard outward appearance. He has a few tattoos and dresses a bit more gangster than the others (but King, 5, 1, 2 and 6 all dress like that as well I guess so maybe not)

Brief history: A family man in the most extreme sense of the word, 10 would do anything for his family, even if it meant leaving them. He was one of the later joiners, coming into the group only two and a half years ago, but he was accepted immediately, due to his activist attitude. Usually fighting with the most reliable weapon he has, his fists, 10 is still a force to be reckoned with. His charming, funny and loyal personality, make him one of the nicer Spades. However his strong religious beliefs and his propensity to speak in Spanish instead of English, have a tendency to annoy some of the others, especially 4, who thinks his gentlemanly demeanour is all an act. He doesn't get angry easily, but when he does, it's best to get well clear. His formidable strength and skill with his hands makes him an excellent body guard.

**Jack-Male- Tyler Jenks**

Age: 17

Skill; Knives

Appearance: I'd say he's probably pretty pale right now lol. And you know what he looked like before.

Brief history: One of the original Jugadores, Jack grew up in London. He spent most of his time on the streets, talking to the beggars and hustlers. He usually slept there as well, because he didn't like his house. His mother was a heroin addict who was never around and his father was in jail. When he was 10 he met a man who taught him how to throw knives in exchange for food. But throwing wasn't enough for Jack, who went back every day until he had the best aim and was better than the man who taught him. Then he started practicing other things, finding more and more people to teach him, until he knew everything there was to know. Then just after his 13th birthday, his mother bought them two plane tickets to California and he met up with the Jugadores. He joined just before the break up, and left the Spades for a brief time, hoping to return to England. When that plan didn't work out, he came back to find that his spot was still open and has been with the spades until two months ago when he was killed.

**Queen-Female- Leah Kingston (based loosely on moonwolf27)**

Age: 20

Skill: Guns

Appearance: With almost waist length chocolate coloured hair and skin, and large sky blue eyes, she's the most stunning of the girls. She has some tattoos, on her back, ankle, the spade on her shoulder etc. but she's never really bought into the whole gang members and tattoos thing.

Brief history: Leah Kingston was the first one to join the Spades after the break up. She was in when they saw her formidable speed and skill with a gun. Her and 3 are in constant competition with each other. She grew up in Compton, and with five older brothers she's anything but a pushover. The scars that cover her arms are her memories of the three years she spent in prison because of assault and armed robbery. She's like the mother of the group, although she's far from nice to anyone. She's a firm believer in the tough love mentality, and has no problem keeping the other members in line.

**King-Male- Caleb King**

Age: 21

Skill: Interrogation

Appearance: The most noticeable thing about king is the fact that his arms are so covered in tattoos that you can hardly see the skin. He's by far the toughest looking member of the gang, with dark blonde hair and an extremely toned body. He's not really good-looking, but he's attractive in a Bruce Willis sort of way or maybe more like Brad Pitt in Fight club.

Brief History: King was in the Jugadores originally as well, although he left before the break up, to go home and take care of his younger brother and sister, after both his parents were killed. The decision to return occurred when his 14 year old sister was murdered by a member of the hearts after the break up. After that, he came back, took up his old position in the new gang, and had a personal vendetta against the hearts until he managed to 'take care of' the one who did it. He spent a few years in jail, but always managed to get out early although no one's exactly sure how. Now he stays with The Spades because he enjoys it and because he seems to have a rather interesting attachment to Queen. King is a master of interrogation, have no problem hurting people to get information out of them.

**Ace-Male- Joel Hunter**

Age: 17

Skill: Everything

Appearance: INSANELY HOT! Blue eyes, brown hair, gorgeous body.

Brief history: Ace has been in the business since the day he turned fourteen, and took over as Ace as soon as he was fifteen. After a rather horrific childhood Ace gave up on his parents, and took his sister to LA, where they moved around, somehow always having somewhere to stay. He joined the Jugadores after his sister left to go back to New York because their father was dying of cancer. Ace stayed, moving quickly up the ranks to become the Ace of spades. Him and King have a rather interesting bond, having been together since pretty much the start, unlike Jack, who he never liked, or trusted particularly.

...

**Man... There sure are a lot of words for something that's not even a real chapter.**

**Okay, Beautiful Seclusion I'm so sorry. I wrote your name down because I was going to write something to you, but then I changed my mind, only I do this thing where I write the whole thing and then go through and fix anything that I did wrong, and I forgot to change it to Z00, so sorry to both of you, because that must have been confusing, and it probably seemed like I didn't even remember who writes what for me and I do! I appreciate everyone LOL. So sorry, again lol. And thanks for telling me.**

**yOeMo-NESS, I was so not certain about writing Javier, cause I didn't know if you would like it, and I can picture him in my head totally how you describe him, but I'm not sure if I got it down right and he might have come across wrong, and I know tyou said i could use him, but i just want to make sure that you like him, because he is really yours and yeah, i just want to make sure that he does end up how you picture him. But yeah, def contact me about the thing that you want. I'll make it happen. hehe**

**And everyone, if you don't like something I've done with one of your characers, because I have changed some of them _a lot_ then feel free to tell me and we can work something out.**

**hope this is all okay,**

**love ya loads**

**(and please review? I love them sooo much and I only need one more to get to 100! I'm so excited, and whoever gives me the 100th review, I'll... wel I don't know, but I'll do something lol)**

**xoxo**

**Bee**


	36. getting out

Ivy had started to dream about white walls. She saw them all time. The doctor hadn't taken her outside again, after the incident and she had been sitting in her room for five days straight. She needed some fresh air. Even walking down the hall would be nice compared to this. This was hell. It just wasn't quite as fiery and red as she had expected. It was white walls and a white roof and white sheets on a white bed. Oh and how could she forget the squashy white floors, the white door and the white air vent that seemed to be doing a pretty crappy job of making the room colder.

The aforementioned door opened and admitted a man dressed in long white coat. He wasn't her usual doctor, but she didn't really care. They changed it up every so often, she thought so that they could find someone she would open up to. Likely. He did look a lot younger than her past doctor, who was in his late forties at least with messy dirty blonde hair and the palest skin Ivy had ever seen. This one was a young, African American with dark brown hair hidden under a cap. He didn't look much like any doctor Ivy had seen before.

"How old are you?" Ivy asked before she could stop herself. She didn't want to seem interested in him, but she really didn't believe this man could have finished any degree.

"Um... I don't have to tell you that" he snapped looking slightly worried.

"Okay. Sorry I was just asking" she muttered, pulling a face.

"How about we go for a walk" he gave a fake smile and Ivy frowned at him bemusedly.

"I don't think I'm allowed to go outside anymore" she shrugged, not standing up.

"Well I think you can"

"No, really" she didn't want to go anywhere with this guy. He was annoying, and a bit strange to put it nicely.

"Oh for fuck's sake" he muttered, not looking at her and Ivy raised her eyebrows trying not to laugh.

"Sorry what was that?" she smirked.

"Nothing" he said quickly, rolling his eyes, "nothing, just come on okay"?

"Okay" she shrugged standing up and following him out the door. They walked down the corridor and outside, and Ivy didn't miss the strange looks that people were giving them. It was probably because her 'doctor' looked about twenty years younger than everyone else in the place.

"So... Um, Irene, no wait, I know this" he seemed to think hard for awhile, "Nope, I got nothing, what was your name again"? Ivy snickered.

"Ivy" she supplied with a smile.

"Right, right... I knew that, you know" he said derisively. Ivy shrugged. Sure he did. "So, um, what exactly did you do"?

"One of my multiple personalities killed a boy and ate him. It wasn't me of course" she smiled sweetly.

"What the f-" he stopped himself, jumping away from her before he saw her laughing. He glared her and she smirked back. "Real funny" he told her and added quietly "not crazy my ass".

"Sorry what?" she asked, puzzled.

"Nothing" he said quickly. Ivy raised an eyebrow. Who was the crazy one again?

"Can we sit?" she asked, indicating one of the empty benches. He shook his head.

"Nope. We have to go over there. You need to see a specialist" he pointed to a small white building.

"Okay" Ivy shrugged. He was the doctor, even if he was weird. He sighed in relief and walked her quickly over the building. The sign on the door read 'tool shed'. Ivy frowned.

"Hold on a second, there's no-" she was pushed roughly into the building and shrieked before her mouth was covered by a hand. She bit the person roughly and let out a louder scream as she heard the door slam behind her.

"She bit me" a man's voice yelled and Ivy rolled over to see three people standing in the dark room. One of them was the 'doctor' who apparently was not a doctor at all. Another, who was small and looked mexican, was shaking his hand and glaring at Ivy, who glared right back at him. The third was a girl in a nurses uniform, but Ivy could guess that she wasn't a nurse. She had stunning long curly red hair and reminded Ivy slightly of a fox, mostly because she looked like she was about to attack someone any second.

"Yeah well, try to talking to the girl for a whole five minutes. _Oh you should do it 6, you look like a doctor._ This is some serious bull-"

"Shut up both of you" the girl snapped, "6, go back to the car". The doctor muttered grudgingly, before ducking out of a small door at the back of the shed.

"And you" the girl began pointing at Ivy, "If you don't shut the hell up and stop screaming, I'm going to leave you here. How would you like living in a tool shed"?

"She bit me" the guy said again.

"I don't give a shit" the girl replied, "Take her to the car and wait for me to get back. I have to go to her room first". Then she turned back to Ivy. Why the hell were they taking her to a car? Were they going to kidnap her?

"We're going to get you out of here. But first, I need you to do something for me" she held up a tape recorder, "Say something into this, like 'Go away'". Ivy frowned and shook her head stubbornly. She wasn't going to help her would be kidnappers.

"Oh for god's sake, just do it already girl" she groaned, "We're trying to help you. You're making it difficult. Don't think I won't hit you just 'cause you're a girl". That was slightly pointless. Ivy never thought that this girl wouldn't hit her. She thought they were going to kill her. She pressed her lips firmly together. The girl groaned again and pursed her lips, clearly trying not to say anything.

"I'm too bloody important for this" she muttered finally, ", go get her clothes". The man scurried off out the same door that the doctor had gone out of and Ivy opened her eyes wide when she realised that she was now alone in a dark room with someone who was going to kill her.

"Okay, one last time. Will you please, please, just do what I asked you?" she sighed exasperatedly. Ivy scowled at her, thinking it over. Why would she even want her to say 'go away' into a tape recorder? That was the strangest thing she had ever heard. But then again, it couldn't hurt, could it?

"Go away?" Ivy said into the tape recorder. The girl sighed.

"A bit more enthusiastically"

"Go away"

"Better. Now say 'I don't want to talk to you'" the girl gave a small smile.

"I don't want to talk to you"

"Perfect" she said, and then looked around worriedly. "Where is he?" she muttered, and with that, the boy from before came back in, carrying a pile of clothes.

"Put these on" he told her chucking them to her and turning around. The girl whispered something to him while Ivy pulled on the jeans and t-shirt, and then hurried out the door, taking the tape and a bunch of pillows with her.

"Are you done?" asked the guy impatiently. Ivy scowled and nodded. Then she realised that he couldn't see her.

"Yeah" she said and he turned around to glare at her, "Come on then. We've got a way to go".

'What are you talking about, the gate's just down there" she told him. He shook his head exasperatedly.

"You think a mental patient can just walk out the front gate? The security on this place is tighter than it looks" he said, opening the door and ushering her outside. He looked at the white clothes she had left lying on the floor and frowned. He picked them up and took them with him.

She looked around her as was half dragged along a dirt path that ran from behind the shed to a forest at the back of the institution. By the time they got out of the trees, Ivy and the guy were both panting and the white van that sat on the road waiting for them had the doors open.

"Get in" the guy said, shoving her into the back and jumping in after her. Ivy sat up and dusted herself off, regaining her breath. The guy let out a relieved breath. Ivy looked around confused.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" she questioned. Who were these guys? And who was the girl? And why the hell was she in the back of truck when this morning she woke up in an psych ward?

"We're trying to save you" the 'doctor' sitting in the front seat said, "But you're not making it easy" he added with a frown, as he started the car up.

"Why?"

"Because we got told to" the other guy sitting next to her in the back told her exasperatedly.

"Who are you anyway?" she asked and the door opened and the girl climbed in. She didn't have the pillows or the tape anymore.

"Go" she told the driver and he drove off down the road. Then she turned around and looked at Ivy.

"I think I can answer that" she said with a smirk, "We, my dear, are The Spades. At your service".

"You're lying" she breathed.

"'Fraid not" the driver said, "Heard of us then have you"? She shrugged. She wasn't about to talk about Ace with them. Or Jack. Oh god. What about Jack? What if she told them what happened and they killed her? An eye for an eye and all that. They'd be so into the, she knew they would. Oh god, she was going to die. They'd probably tie her up and whack her with sticks, like they did on the Italian movie about soccer.

"Of course she's heard of us you idiot" the girl snapped, "why else would he have told us to get her?"

"I was just asking" he said holding up a hand in a calming gesture, "Chill 9".

"Yeah whatever" she said, crossing her arms and turning back around in her seat. Ivy was still in shock. She was sitting in a van with The Spades. Never in a million years did she expect that she would be here. But then, she never thought she would get sent to a mental asylum. Or that she would get arrested and sent to a juvenile detention camp. But somehow, both of those things had happened, so maybe she should work on being more adaptable.

"So... you were just kidding about that whole, schizophrenic thing... Right?" the driver asked her sounding slightly nervous. "You haven't actually eaten someone have you?"

The guy next to her burst out laughing and the girl smirked. "You're the dumbest person I've ever met, no wonder they kicked you out of all those schools" the guy said and the driver gave him the finger.

"Are you saying because I'm black it means I must be stupid? I knew you were racist" the driver said, shaking his head sadly.

"Oh, I'm a racist? I'm a racist? You're the one who says Latino people can't have blonde hair" he replied, rubbing his stubbly hair self-consciously. The girl sighed and buried her head in her hands, muttering something to herself. The driver rolled his eyes.

"That's because they can't dumbass. When's the last time you saw a Mexican or a Spanish person, or an Argentinean person with blonde hair?"

"My dad had blonde hair"

"Was your Dad Latino?"

"You're fucking racist man, just stop talking to me"

"Ohhhh, that burns man, where did you-"

"Nah! Shut up"

"You-"

"Racist!"

"Fu-"

"If both of you don't shut up, I'm gonna smash both of your faces in, break your kneecaps and stab you in the elbow" the girl yelled and they both stopped talking. Ivy grinned. She was going to stab them in the elbow? That was a new one.

They drove in silence for the next few hours, until the highway became an actual place and the van slowed down. It was just getting dark when the van drove down a long road in what seemed like a warehouse district. Empty looking warehouses and containers bordered the road, and most of the street lights weren't working. The one's that did flickered eerily. Tall buildings rose in the distance, and Ivy realised they were in a city. She didn't know which one. They made enough turns that Ivy was well and truly lost and then they pulled up, outside an old, enormous creepy looking house. Ivy would've bet money that it was haunted, if there weren't lights on in some of the windows. It was at least three or four storeys high, made of wood and looked on the verge of falling down. The driver pushed a button in the van and a ramshackle wooden garage next to the house opened up. The inside didn't exactly fit with what she had expected it to look like. The bright red walls were so clean they practically shone, there were at least four cars already parked in it, and the walls were arranged with neat shelves on which sat tools and car parts as well as various other things which Ivy couldn't identify. Sparks were flying out from under one of the cars; a shiny black four wheel drive, as someone toyed around with whatever it was that was underneath the car. Ivy's mouth fell open. They had to be joking. Houses didn't look like that one did, and have cars and garages like this. This was insane.

The legs sticking out from under the car soon became a whole body as the person pulled themselves out from underneath the truck and wiped their hands on a pair of dirty overalls. The van pulled into an empty spot and stopped. The girl climbed out first followed by the driver. The girl who had emerged from underneath the car nodded to them and spat on the ground. Ivy jumped out after the other man, and was hit by the smell of petrol.

"Is this her?" the new girl, who had gorgeous milk chocolate coloured skin and large blue eyes looked at Ivy with a hint of curiosity colouring her features. The first girl, who was pretty as well now that Ivy looked at her, but not in the striking way of the other girl, nodded.

"This is Ivy" she said gesturing to her in a theatrical sort of way. The other nodded decisively and looked her up and down calculatingly.

"Come with me" she said brusquely after a few seconds, "I'll take you to your room". Ivy nodded and followed after her obediently. There was something about this girl that made you not want to disagree with her. She led her into the house through a door in the back of the garage. Ivy was even more shocked than when they saw the cars in the garage. The walls of the house were a perfect shade of cream, with down lights illuminating the long hallway and the charcoal coloured carpet. There were no photos on the wall. In fact the hall way was rather bare, except for a thin glass cabinet, which on closer inspection, Ivy discovered, was full of slightly charred old pieces of paper.

"I'm Queen" the girl told her as they left the hallway and passed through a dining room with the biggest table Ivy had ever seen and a chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. "The small, Mexican guy, that's 2, the other guy's 6 and the girl's 9".

"Oh" Ivy said, feeling extremely small and insignificant in this mansion. There really was no other word for it. It was enormous. She wondered why the outside was so dirty and disgusting when the inside of the house looked like this, but she didn't ask, in case she offended the girl, Queen. They were out of the dining room now, and were at the far side of the house from the garage. This room didn't really have a lot in it, except for a flight of stairs.

"You're room's up here" Queen said, walking up a flight of stairs with bright red carpet covering them and a golden hand rail. They looked like stairs from out of some old-time musical, the way they curved around both sides of the room and merged together in the middle to come down in the centre of the room. This felt like a dream. She felt like Annie when she was sent to the rich guy's house. She couldn't remember his name, but it didn't really matter. She couldn't remember a whole lot right now, she was too shocked. The walls of this room were probably the most amazing thing she had seen in the house so far. There was no wall paper, or paint on the walls, instead they were covered by a giant montage of cards. Spades more specifically. They covered every inch of the wall, making it quite evident who the house belonged to.

Queen was frowning at her when Ivy stopped looking at the cards.

"When you're done staring, maybe we can go up" She smirked and Ivy felt herself come very close to blushing.

"So, who lives here?" Ivy ventured when they started walking again. Queen shrugged.

"Everyone"

"Everyone, like all of you?" Ivy asked.

"Yeah. That everyone" Queen replied with a hint of exasperation in her voice.

"But aren't there like, a lot of you?" Ivy wondered where all of them were. If there were thirteen people living here, shouldn't it be a bit louder?

"Yeah, there's, like, a lot of us. The others are out" Queen replied, rolling her eyes. Ivy felt like a complete idiot when she talked to this girl. She had never met anoyone who could make her feel so stupid for saying the word 'like' before.

Queen came to a dark wooden door on the second floor and opened it up. The walls of the room were a light shade of blue and the carpet was navy. A huge window took up almost all of the wall opposite the door. There was a double bed and a few bookcases around the walls. But only one of them actually had books on it. The other two were something a little different. They had different types of swords and knives set up on them, like a display. There were army knives, samurai swords, some strange dagger like things with dragons painted on them, and a whole bunch of other which she was pretty sure were for stabbing people. She was quite certain this room wasn't set up specifically for her.

"I'll leave you alone. You probably want some sleep" Queen said in a business-like tone. Ivy was pretty sure Queen didn't like her very much.

"Thanks Queen" Ivy said with a hopeful smile. Queen looked at her for a few seconds and returned the smile less enthusiastically.

"It was nice to meet you Ivy" Queen said after awhile, and it was surprisingly believable. Believable enough that Ivy wasn't sure whether she was saying it because she felt like she had to or because she actually meant it. Either way, she had just met the first civil person in this house, and she was pretty grateful.

But there was one thing that she couldn't get off her mind as she lay awake in bed worn out, even though she had done nothing all day. Why was she here? Was Ace back from Green Lake and trying to help her out? Or was he still there and he told them to do this? Or did they find out about Jack and now they wanted revenge? What if her being here wasn't as nice a thing as she had assumed? Maybe they brought her here so it was easier to get to her. Her heartbeat sped up as she considered this option. Suddenly those knives sitting around her room didn't seem quite so innocent anymore.

...

**Oh my god. I feel like such an idiot. Seriously. Beautiful seclusion, THANK YOU so much for telling me. Yes, I did know that there isn't a one in a deck of cards, but I totally forgot. You know when you just get into the whole flow of things and totally forget stuff. So I just went back tried to write him out. But it made it too hard, because the only one who he really fits with is 3, who's real big, so he should be in all the missions and that and the smart guy's never in the missions, so I just kept him. but thank you for telling me so I can tell everyone else that;**

**_I know there's no 1 in a deck of cards_. LOL. But we'll just keep him there and pretend like there is. Maybe Ivy can say something and I'll come up with some reason why there's a one of Spades. But thank you Beautiful seclusion, man you've been helpful lately! (I'm really sorry that you didn't like 9's personality... I feel really bad, I wanted everyone to like their characters. It's just that I was like she's a body guard so she probably shouldn't be very nice. But I guess I could edit that a little bit you know. If you want. Do you want me to do that? Cos I can haha).**

**But for everyone else, I'm glad you like the characters and Miss-Paparella, I'll d****efinitely take your advice and phase them in. I hope four wasnt too much to start with. Sorry if it was.**

**And thank you all for reviewing I've got more than 100!! Yay! Greatly appreciated. Anyone else, who's never reviewed before and feels a need to now, just becase you love me... go ahead. I'm not stopping you ;) oh and just by the way, I'm not tryna get all stalkerish, but are there really people from NZ reading my story? If there are and you want to, then you can totally review lol. But I mean you don't have to. There might not even be anyone, it might just be me reading chapters when I think I'm logged in but I'm not. Anyway that's all.**

**cheers**

**xx**

**Bee**

**ps. Okay, I probably sound like the biggest dick ever right now. But i'm gonna say it anyway.**

**You know when people are writing summaries and it says shit like 'oc' and 'mary- whatever'. What the hell does that mean? I get soooooo confused. I sound really dumb now and all of you guys are probably gonna be like oh my god, what a loser, but I don't really care so can someone tell me? please? Thanks xx**

**That really is all now;)**


	37. The soap opera house

**Okay just quickly, before you start reading, there's a bit in the middle of this chapter where you see everyone, but don't worry, I'm not expecting you guys to remember who they all are or anything, or like, that you'll know who they are after that. Just so you don't get all confused or anything. Read away:**

When Ivy woke up in the morning, she was still alive, which she considered to be a pretty good start to the day. She had half expected to not wake up at all. It took her sleep addled brain a few seconds to realise that what had woken her up was the loud noise coming from downstairs. People were yelling and she heard the sound of shattering glass followed by more yelling. What the hell was going on? And more importantly, did she care? She shouldn't really; it was nothing to do with her. She smiled and snuggled down back into the bed. The smell on the sheets was faint, but familiar although she couldn't place it. She frowned as loud bang echoed around downstairs, followed by a long silence and then more yelling. Ivy groaned and burrowed deeper. She gave up completely on sleep when a loud thud shook the floor of the room. She climbed reluctantly out of the warm bed and walked over to the door. She tried to open it, and nothing happened. She pushed a little harder. Still nothing. Was the door stuck? Somehow she doubted that that was the problem. She was locked in the room.

She knocked on the door. Maybe it was an accident and someone would come and let her out. She waited a few seconds. There was no noise from anywhere near her room. Maybe not. She knew this was a bad idea. She should have stayed at Lakeview. At least no one there was trying to kill her. Well that wasn't strictly true, because a large number of the people there were probably trying to kill everyone, but not her specifically. Now she was locked up in a gang's headquarters surround by crazy murderers and thieves. This had to be the highlight of her life. She sat down on the bed and crossed her arms, deciding that sulking was the best course of action at this point. If she was going to die, she might as well complain a bit first.

She looked out the window. The sky was a dark grey and rain was splashing heavily against the glass. Well didn't this just make the day even better. She heard footsteps coming down the hall towards her room and she felt herself freeze. She had wanted to get out, but now that she thought about it, was that really a good idea? If they had locked her in her room, it meant that they didn't want her getting away, which meant they had something that they wanted to do with her. As long as she was locked in here, she was safe, but if someone was coming now, perhaps it meant they were getting sick of her. The footsteps got closer. Ivy's heart sped up. What if this was the last thing she remembered? Being locked in a blue room with knives everywhere? Oh dear god she had forgotten about the knives. She was about to be slaughtered with a samurai sword. She bit her lip as the footsteps got closer. They were heavy, so whoever it was they were big. Maybe they'd just snap her neck and get it over with quickly. The handle began to jiggle but the door didn't open. Ivy scooted further away from it on her bed, her heart going so fast it was about to leap right out of her chest. Someone muttered something from outside and she heard a small click. Then the door flew open and Ivy saw...

A girl. An absolutely miniscule girl, who couldn't have been older than twelve, wearing the biggest boots Ivy had ever seen. She let out the breath that she didn't realise she had been holding in.

"Hi" said the girl with a small smile. Ivy stared back a little dumbfounded. What was this girl doing here?

"Are you just gonna keep staring at me or can I come in?" The girl asked.

"Oh, right no um, sure, come in" Ivy said, recovering ever so slightly.

"You don't really look like a crazy person you know" the girl said after studying Ivy curiously for a few seconds, "Unless... Are you one of those girls that goes mad, after they don't get to be Prom Queen? I saw a documentary on that before I came here, and those girls are scary". The girl shivered slightly. Ivy smiled.

"No. I'm not crazy. And I never went to prom" she told the girl, as she plopped down on the bed next to Ivy.

"So, Ivy right? Nice name. It sounds rich. You're rich aren't you?" the girl sounded pretty certain of herself.

"Apparently I'm not the only one" Ivy answered, looking pointedly around the room.

"Yeah, well, turns out everyone was wrong. Crime does pay. And pretty highly at that" the girl shrugged and Ivy raised an eyebrow. She definitely didn't talk like she was twelve. She sounded much older.

"I'm Laine, by the way, Laine Holloway. But you can call me 4" the girl, 4, said holding out a hand. Ivy smiled and shook it. So she was in the gang? And she was four too. Did that mean she was more important than the crazy little Latino from last night? Ivy hoped so. That would really make her laugh.

A loud bang came from downstairs, followed by yelling. Ivy frowned and 4 rolled her eyes.

"Ignore that. It's just 10 and 3 having a fight. 3 got shot in the leg last night and he thinks that it was 10's fault. He's like that. Always blames everyone else. King will shut them up soon don't worry". With that, a man's voice began yelling and the banging stopped. Ivy could make out a bit what he was saying, but most of it wasn't things that she would want to repeat. Then there was silence.

"So you know Ace?" 4 asked. Ivy nodded slightly.

"Yeah, yeah you could say that" she murmured, not feeling too comfortable talking about him right now. She was still getting over the shock of hearing that he was running an entire gang. Really, if she thought about it, it should have been obvious, but she hadn't worked it out and hearing it from Jack had just made her mad.

"I don't know what you did to him, but I'm impressed. You must be something pretty special if he writes to King telling him that if you get hurt, he'll-"

"4, what the hell do you think you're doing?" barked a voice from in the doorway. Ivy looked up shocked. A young man, who was quite possibly the scariest person Ivy had ever seen was leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest, frowning at 4. She made a small grunting noise and muttered something under her breath.

"I was just talking to her" she began and the man cut her off.

"Well don't. Get out"

"Alright, alright, I'm going" she muttered. He glared at her as she was going out the door.

"Don't speak to me like that, do I look like your dad?" he frowned reaching out an arm to stop her. She looked at him belligerently and shook her head.

"Damn right. So don't think I'd have any problem with getting Queen to smack your little head off" he said, removing his arm from in front of her and then jerking his thumb in the direction of the door and she walked out glaring at the ground. Ivy felt her jaw drop open. Did this giant man just threaten a little girl? What the hell kind of place was this? He looked behind him watching her go and then came in and closed the door.

"Mornin'" he said. He had a deep, graveley voice. He was looking at her a frown plastered firmly on his face. But maybe that wasn't due completely to her, because he had had that look on since he started speaking.

"Hi" Ivy said back coldly. She didn't like this guy. Partly because he was scary, but mostly because he was being mean to the only person who had actually been nice to her in this house so far.

He didn't say anything for a while. He seemed to be sizing her up. As though she was some potential threat. Like she wasn't the innocent girl in a household full of hardened criminals. She was the one in danger here, not the six foot body builder covered in tattoos.

"I'm Ivy" she supplied after a long silence. He nodded.

"I know who you are" he said indifferently.

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name" she hinted raising an eyebrow although she could guess who he was.

"That's a shame" he replied, still looking at her as though he was trying to gage whether she was about to attack him or not.

"Why did you lock the door?" Ivy asked him curiously.

"I don't like taking risks" he replied matter-of-factly.

"You think me getting out is a risk?" she tried not to sound offended.

"Oh, it ain't you gettin' out that we're worried about" he replied with a small wink. Ivy felt her body stiffen slightly. She couldn't think of anything to say to that. Was it meant to sound like a threat, or had it just come off that way?

"How do you know Ace?" He asked after a while.

"I... It's kind of a long story" she said, looking away from his steady gaze.

"I got time" he said, leaning against her wall expectantly. So she wasn't going to get off that easy. The question now was how much did he already know? Could she get away with lying to him? She highly doubted it. He didn't really look like the type of person you lied to.

"I went to... Camp with him" she tried eventually.

"Camp?" he snorted disbelievingly.

"Why is there a problem with that?" she asked hostilely. He shook his head and motioned for her to continue.

"It was like a juvy, but in the middle of nowhere. We were in the same tent. When you spend all day long with someone for six months, you sort of bond" she told him rolling her eyes.

"You don't say" he said thoughtfully, eyeing Ivy with a new look now that she couldn't quite place. She looked back, waiting for him to look away, but he didn't.

"You look familiar" he stated after another long pause. Ivy waited for him to elaborate. He didn't.

"You have a lot of tattoos" she replied. She knew he probably wanted an answer, but she had no idea if she knew him from before. She had done a pretty good job of forgetting everything from before Green Lake for the time being. And besides, if he had a real question, then he should have asked properly.

"Ace seemed pretty interested in us takin' care 'a you" he said, again seeming to stop half way through the sentence. Everything he said seemed to be a question, although he said them like statements. It was quite fascinating.

"Maybe I have something he wants" she shrugged.

"Maybe. You and him, you ain't never..?" He trailed off meaningfully. Ivy scowled at him.

"What's it got to do with you?" she asked coldly. He tilted his head to the side and shrugged.

"You hungry?" he asked suddenly.

"Sure" she said, suddenly realising just how hungry she was. She hadn't eaten since yesterday morning and she was absolutely starving. They didn't exactly give you a feast at mental homes.

"C'mon" he said, opening the door and leading her into the hallway. The house looked just as spectacular by day as it had the evening before. The only real difference was the noise that had started to come from downstairs once again. Ivy frowned; was it always going to be this noisy? They passed 9 coming up the stairs, and she pulled a face when she saw Ivy. King looked at her.

"Mornin' 9" he said and it sounded more like a warning. She didn't say anything, simply rolled her eyes and went to keep walking. King made a sort of bemused noise and turned as 9 went past them.

"Do you wanna try that again?" he asked harshly. She turned deliberately and gave a sickly sweet smile. He scowled back at her.

"Good Morning King" she beamed, then turned with a flick of her long red hair and stomped off up the stairs. Ivy was taken aback. Had she done something? Or was this girl just a complete psycho? Either way, she didn't intend to talk to her long enough to find out.

"Ignore her" came a voice from the bottom of the stairs. They both turned to see 2 leaning against the railing, smoking a cigarette, "She's always like that. Crazy bitch-"

"2, if you're doing what I think you're doing in my house, I'll- Oh. Ivy. Hi" Queen stopped her yelling, to smile distractedly at Ivy. She waved her hand at 2, who scurried out of the furthest door, which Ivy could see opened onto a large garden. "7 and 8 want to talk to you" she told King, then looked back at Ivy, "Have you eaten? You haven't have you, come with me". Well this was a nice change. Queen was acting extremely, motherly. Not that Ivy was complaining.

Ivy followed her through a door into a lounge which she hadn't been in the other night. She was immediately immersed in loud noises which were coming partly from the TV which was blaring at full volume, but mostly from the people spread out over the black leather sofas yelling. She recognised 4, who was practically screaming at an enormous Latino guy, who seemed to be laughing at her. On the chair next to them, sat a large boy with a buzz cut and a huge bloody bandage on his leg. He didn't seem the slightest bit phased by anything that was going on around him, instead, he was polishing the gun in his hands. 6 and another small black boy, wearing glasses sat together on a couch, yelling at the TV screen and each other, as they played a car racing game. Two people who she had never seen before were standing in a corner and as soon as Queen came in, they whispered something to each other and left. The girl was tall, thin and extremely blonde. The boy was the same height and size as the girl, but he lacked the blondness, with dark hair and dark eyes, he just looked tired.

Ivy tried to ignore the stares that were suddenly directed at her when she entered the room. Everyone stopped talking. Everyone except 4, who was still screaming at the big guy. He flicked her on the nose and shushed her. Ivy laughed at the look on her face. She looked like she was about to murder him.

"What are you all staring at?" Queen snapped sharply and all eyes suddenly averted themselves. She kept walking through the room, glaring at everyone. Ivy followed after her in awe at how easily she had got everyone to listen to her.

"Sit" she gestured to a seat, "I'll get you something". Ivy complied, sitting down on one of the stools next to a large bench.

"So do you like the house?" Queen asked, as she moved around the kitchen pulling things out from cupboards and pouring them into bowls. Ivy smiled.

"It's alright" she shrugged, "I've seen better". She was joking. Queen didn't seem to get it.

"I bet you have. You're from Beverly Hills aren't you?" she began stirring the bowl.

"I was. I haven't been there in a while" She waited for Queen to get nosy. Everyone asked questions when she said something like that.

"Yeah, I haven't been home in a while either. But then I have five brothers, I don't think they really miss me".

"You have five brothers?" Ivy heard the jealousy in her voice before she realised just how envious she was. She had always wanted a big family.

"Yep. I was the only girl. The youngest too. It's a nice change being here, actually" she sighed, thoughtfully.

"That seems like a lot to live up to, having five older brothers". Queen smirked.

"I think I'm doing alright" she shrugged, looking around with raised eyebrows. Ivy couldn't disagree. Joining a gang definitely wasn't a minor achievement.

"4 doesn't really look like a gang member" Ivy said, changing the topic completely. "How old is she anyway"? Queen looked around as though someone might be listening to them. Ivy frowned.

"Ivy, everyone here is here because they deserve it. If you question that, people have a tendency to get angry. She's not as helpless as she looks" she said it calmly enough, but Ivy could hear a warning note to her voice that made her a little glad no one else had heard her ask that. She didn't say anything after that and Queen brought over a plate piled high with pancakes.

Ivy smiled. This was the first real food she had had in almost six months. She wasn't sure if that was why it tasted so good, or if it was because they really were amazing. Either way, she could get them down fast enough. Queen looked at her with a slightly shocked, slightly bemused smile. She had finished all of them in about five minutes. Queen smirked and took the plate over to a dishwasher.

4 came in about two minutes later with the Latino boy in tow. They made a rather interesting pair, what with him being so extremely large, and her being so, well, not.

"Hello again" she beamed at Ivy, "Sorry about King, he's a-"

"4, you know I'm standing right here, don't you?" Queen asked with a frown.

"-Lovely person, who is always nice and loves us all like family" 4 finished smiling sweetly at Queen, who rolled her eyes. The boy laughed and ruffled her hair.

"10, please don't touch me in such a way. It's extremely demeaning" 4 said, glaring at the boy. He moved his hands away and held them out in front of him in an innocent way.

"My bad chica. You know I wouldn't wanna 'demean' you" he grinned, and then looked at Ivy, "And you must be Ivy". She nodded with a small smile, and accepted the hand that he proffered. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back, in an action that was surprisingly not tacky. 4, standing next to him, snorted. Queen rolled her eyes and left the room.

"10" he smiled, ignoring the girls, "We've heard a lot about you".

"No we haven't" 4 interrupted, "we haven't heard anything about her".

"Okay, we haven't heard that much about you" he shrugged.

"Nothing" 4 corrected him.

"Fine, nothing, we've heard nothing about you. Are you happy now?" he asked 4, rolling his eyes. She nodded and smiled at him.

"Well, actually, I have" 4 amended, "but you haven't". 10 grinned and sat down next to Ivy.

"So, how's everyone been treating you? Well, I hope" he said. Ivy shrugged and nodded.

"They're nice" she replied. What else could she say? Everyone had been nice to her for the most part, and even if they hadn't, was she honestly going to start complaining about gang members, all of which could most probably kick her ass? Not likely.

"Even King?" 4 asked sceptically. Ivy nodded with a small smile.

"Even King" she affirmed. The other two exchanged a glance and both smirked but neither of them said anything.

"Did you know his last name's King?" 4 asked her, "Interesting isn't it. It's like a sign. Maybe he was meant for this job. Wouldn't that be cosmic"?

"Muy cósmico indeed" 10 agreed.

"I heard him and Queen this morning" she said with a smirk, "Just after we got back. Didn't sound like they were talking about much of the day either if you know what I mean". Ivy felt her jaw drop involuntarily. King and Queen? Well, wasn't that some serious fairytale material. 10 didn't look half as shocked. In fact he was laughing.

"I hope you left before your innocent little ears were scarred for life" he sounded mock horrified. She grimaced and nodded.

"Please. Like I was gonna stick around to hear that" she snorted disgustedly. Ivy smirked this house was like a soap opera. A really rich, crime infested soap opera, but still. King and Queen were together, Ace was in jail, Jack was dead and 10 and 4, the two most unlikely people in the whole world had turned out to be friends. This was going to be an interesting stay.

...

**So I hope that was good. I changed queen quite a lot, i know, but i thought it would be good if she was making an effort, since most of the others don't really like Ivy.**

**If it was good, then I'm dedicating it to all of my faithful reviewers, you know who you are, and to Phizza who doesn't think I'm weird just cos I write stories on this site, and who is the honey to my bee and is probably laughing at me right now because I forgot that there was no one in a deck of cards. But I forgive her because I'm laughing at my, and all my awesome, wonderful reviewers are laughing at me too I suspect.**

**And everyone who speaks Spanish (espcially yoemo-ness) I know i only used like two spanish words in there, but if they were wrong, I'm so sorry. I don't speak it, at all. I can say hello and that's about it, so from now on i think i'm just gonna private message yoemoness and get you to tell me how to say stuff. i would just write it down here, but I don't wanna give away anything that happens. Just in case it's something important.**

**Ace will be back really, really, really soon, it's just that i want ivy to get to know them a little before he comes back. It should be in like three chapters, but I'm not promising anything. only it's school holidays, and whenever I'm home, I write this so I should get those chapters done pretty fast and then we'l get to see Ace again. And don't worry, it will definitely be worth waiting for ;)**

**xoxo**

**bee**

**ps. Miss-paparella, update your story already woman, I want to know what happens!! you too beautiful seclusion haha.**


	38. Vanity

Over the next few days Ivy made some interesting new acquaintances. She met 3, who was a master with guns, and seemed much like 4 in that he liked to use long words in his sentences. 1 also seemed to enjoy doing that. He was a small man who had a way with any form of technology imaginable, and was completely unbeatable on any video game ever made. As it turned out, he also had an interesting ability to learn kung fu moves off the games he played and delighted in using them on anyone and everyone who insulted him. 6 always seemed to be near him, because, according to 4, he thought everyone else was 'a racist'. 2 turned out to be the mysterious one of the house, constantly disappearing off to God know where at all hours of the day and night. When he was there, he was in general smoking, drinking or being yelled at by someone, usually because of the other two aforementioned activities.

She spent most of her time in the house either with Queen or with 4 and 10, who as it turned out, were pretty much inseparable. Ivy wouldn't have guessed it, but they made for an extremely interesting duo, always having something to say, although it wasn't always in English. It wasn't until her fourth day, trying to steer well clear of 9 who didn't seem to have warmed up to her in the slightest, that she ran into the strangest pair in the house. 7 and 8 were usually never in the same room as Ivy, whether that was on purpose, or a coincidence, she wasn't sure. They were coming down from the stairs leading up to the third floor as Ivy walked down the second floor corridor. As usual, they were whispering to each other. When they saw Ivy, they both stopped. The girl, 7, smiled.

"Ivy, hi. We haven't been properly introduced. I'm 7. This is 8" she said, and her voice sounded extremely forced.

"Hi" Ivy said, giving a small, uncertain wave. 8 glared at her. He muttered something to 7 and she shook her head and shushed him. He scowled and then looked back at Ivy sullenly. She frowned at him and the girl gave another forced smile.

"Oh, don't worry about him. He's just having a bad day" she glared at him warningly.

"Bad year more like" he muttered bitterly. 7 gave a light tinkling laugh and slapped him on the shoulder playfully, even though it was clear he wasn't joking. Ivy didn't really know what to say to that.

"So you're friends with Ace?" 7 asked, sounding far more enthusiastic than she had before.

"Yeah sure. I mean, we know each other" Ivy smiled.

"Really, how is he? Is he okay? Nothing's happened to him, has it?" she asked eagerly and her brother rolled his eyes. Ivy nodded. Well this was definitely the most excited response she had gotten so far.

"No, no, he's fine. Completely fine. I mean, when I left he was anyway, but it's only been two months, I doubt much has changed" she told her reassuringly. The girl put a hand to her heart and sighed in relief. What exactly was all this about? Was this just concern for her friend, or was it something more? Because that was definitely what it was coming across as.

"Oh my gosh, I am so glad to hear that. You have no idea how worried I've been. Anyway, we have a ton of work to do, but if you need anything just give us a yell" 7 beamed at her, then grabbed hold of her brothers arm and they strode off down the hallway to one of the rooms that Ivy hadn't been in yet. That was definitely one of the most interesting encounters she had had so far.

Her day got far worse at six o'clock. Ivy had discovered over the past few days that there was only one thing that was definitely going to happen in the house. Every evening at precisely six, everyone in the house except for 7 and 8 (who always seemed to go missing at that time) gathered around the TV to watch the news. This was mostly due to the insistent nagging on 1's part if anyone tried to do anything else. He said that they needed to be one hundred percent up-to-date on everything going on around the world. Despite that fact that they knew everything that was going on in the state about a month before it happened, 1 was of the firm belief that you could never have too much knowledge. Only tonight, the news was a bit different.

They missed the headlines, because 6 had accidentally broken the satellite, that morning, and 1 was still up on the roof fixing it when the news began. So it came as a complete shock to everyone when the picture came back on and the top right hand corner of the screen showed a rather horrid picture of Ivy's face.

"In other news, a dangerous criminal has escaped from Lakeview Mental Asylum. Seventeen year-old Ivy Stallone, one of the patients in the psychopath ward of this world renowned Institute, recently went missing" the news reader was a young African American woman, with a perfect bob and too much lipstick on. The picture on screen changed to a shot of Lakeview, with patients walking around with their doctors.

"Miss Stallone was sent here after shooting a boy while in a youth detention centre, which she was originally sent to for DUI, grand theft auto and manslaughter. The exact details of how and when she escaped are not known, but it is believed to have happened two days ago. If anyone sees this girl" the shot of Ivy's face now filled the entire screen "Do not approach her. She is a highly dangerous psychopath. Police request that you call straight away if you have any information on the whereabouts of Miss Stallone or knowledge of her escape".

"That is quite alarming isn't it Jill" said the man with the bushy moustache sitting next to the woman.

"Yes, Bob, it is" she smiled back.

"Well, in another story, a young boy in Texas has won-" 1 turned the TV off and everyone in the room stared silently at Ivy. She couldn't tear her eyes of the now blank screen. Dangerous criminal? Psychopath? Was this a joke? This could not be happening. They said they had taken care of it. It had only been five days, and already there were cops out looking for her. This was not taken care off.

The silence dragged on and on. And finally someone spoke.

"Well, at least they got your good side" 2 said, taking a swig from the bottle in his hand. And then the yelling began.

"You stupid son of a bitch" 4 screamed, "Where's your sympathy? You're an asshole-"

"I thought you said you took care of it" King growled at 9.

"I did" she yelled back, outraged at being blamed for what had happened.

"You call this 'taken care of'? She's all over the fucking news"

'Well what did you want me to do? People don't just disappear without anyone noticing. Was I supposed to kidnap someone and throw them in there instead-?"

"You didn't tell me she shot someone" 6 yelled, scrambling away from Ivy on the couch, "I knew this chick was mental".

"Are you alright chica?" 10 asked, leaning over and patting Ivy soothingly on the shoulder.

"Why'd you shoot someone?" 3 questioned eagerly from the other side.

"What the hell is going on in here?" 8 called from the door as he and 7 looked curiously inside.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Queen yelled and all the voices died away suddenly. "That's better. We all knew this was going to happen eventually, and now that it has you're all acting like a bunch of sugar-high five year olds. The only thing that matters right now is what we're going to do. Any ideas"?

2 was the first to speak. "I think we should kick her out" he said with a nonchalant shrug, "I'm not risking myself for some crazy chick".

"You f-" 4 started but Queen stopped her and looked around motioning for them to continue.

"I agree" 6 said, looking almost apologetically at Ivy. "We can't risk it'.

"I don't want her here" came a voice from the doorway which belonged to 8, "I don't care what you do with her, but I want her out of the house".

"I think all of you should shut up" A female voice said. Ivy looked at 4 but it wasn't her, nor was it Queen. She looked over to the doorway and saw 7 standing silently behind 8. But that couldn't be right. That meant that... She looked at the seat next to her, where 9 was glaring at the boys.

"She's a guest in the house, and she's not leaving. End of story" Ivy struggled to keep her jaw off the floor. Wow. Was she on drugs? Or had 9 actually just stuck up for her?

"9's right man. We can't throw Ivy out. It's not like we've never been through something worse than this. They don't even know that she's here. I don't know what you're freaking out for" 10 said, wrapping an arm protectively around Ivy's shoulders. She smiled at him and he winked back.

"I don't know what everyone's making such a big deal out of this for" 7 added from the door, "Have you looked around? Most of us are wanted for more things than you can count, and we're sitting here having a debate about whether or not Ivy can stay in the house? This is stupid".

4 didn't say anything, but she stood next to Queen, glaring daggers at 2,4 and 6 who was glaring right back at her. King cleared his throat.

"The question ain't if we were gonna keep her in the house" he said bluntly, "The question was how're we gonna stop her from getting found"?

"We keep her inside until this whole thing blows over" 6 shrugged, seemingly happy that the decision had been made for him.

"That makes enough sense. We ain't had to take her out before this" King seemed to be thinking it through very quickly in his head, "Ivy you're not leaving this house for the next two months".

"What!" she cried, "_two months_? You want me to stay inside for two months"?

"Cheer up princess" he replied derisively, "Ain't no mirrors outside anyways". Queen scowled at him.

"Sorry Ivy. It's that or sending you to New York. Your choice" she didn't sound very sympathetic. She sounded annoyed that Ivy was being difficult.

"Fine. It's only two months" she scowled, crossing her arms. She could take that. It was better than jail. Even if she was going to get so pale she would start reflecting the light.

"Good answer" King smirked. Queen raised a finger.

"It wouldn't hurt to take some extra precautions" she said, looking at Ivy thoughtfully. Everyone looked at her. Most of them had excited looks on their faces, as though they thought she was going to tell them to beat her up until you couldn't recognise her anymore.

"Why don't we give her a makeover? Chuck some contacts on her, chop some of her hair off and dye it, she'd look completely different" 7 piped up excitedly. 9 and King both rolled their eyes simultaneously. Ivy couldn't stop herself any longer.

"You better be joking" she hissed, glaring at 7. 7 looked back with a slightly hurt look.

"Shut up Ivy, it's only hair. Do you want to go to prison for life? Because that's what you'll get if they find you" 3 told her scornfully, "Murder, manslaughter, theft, those aren't things the police take lightly".

"I like it, actually" Queen said with a small smile. 1 nodded in agreement.

"Yes. It's actually quite an intelligent suggestion. Blonde hair is the most memorable of all aspects of human appearance. Change that and at first glance, she'll look like a completely different person. They won't even bother to look twice" he agreed.

"No" she yelled, covering her hair protectively, "No, you're not touching my hair. Do anything else, please, but not my hair". She wasn't surprised when no one backed her up on this. There was a low chorus of annoyed grunts and mutterings through the room. Ivy didn't disagree with them. If it was someone else, she would think they were shallow. But her hair was important to her. It was what made her, her. If they took that away, she'd be ugly. And she couldn't stand to be ugly.

"And who exactly is going to be cutting her hair?" 2 came up with the problem before anyone else had even thought of it.

"Oh, oh, me, I will. I even know how to make hair dye" 4 chimed in, waving her hand around in the air, like a kindergartener. There was loud laughter from around the room. 4 screwed up her face and glared at everyone.

"4, we want to change her hair, not kill her. You and your nitro-glycerine aren't getting anywhere near anyone's head" 10 smirked. She scowled and snapped her teeth at him s though she was going to attack him.

"I'll do it" 7 said eagerly, not to anyone's surprise.

"No you won't" 8 cut in, and the smile disappeared from 7's face. "I'm not having you alone with this girl. She's a murderer".

"I can take care of myself Olly" she snapped viciously. That was the first time Ivy had heard any of the Spades call each other by their first names.

"I don't care-"

"I'm not some psycho killer or anything" Ivy exclaimed angrily. 8 turned to her and raised his arms in confusion.

"You don't even want this to happen, why are you disagreeing with me?" he cried frustratedly.

"Because what you're saying is bullshit, and I'm not just gonna sit here and listen to you-".

"Okay. Enough" King groaned, covering his face with one hand exasperatedly. "7, you do it- no arguing-" he added quickly, with a glance at 8 who had opened his mouth "9 will come with you, so if _Ivy tries to kill_ _you_ she can save you". He added the last bit mockingly, then stood up and stormed from the room, followed quickly by Queen. 8 muttered something under his breath and stamped from the room. 7 ignored him, cheering gleefully, bouncing up and down on the couch. 9 rolled her eyes, something Ivy was becoming extremely accustomed to seeing.

"Whatever" 9 muttered, as 7 jumped up and grabbed Ivy's hand, leading her up to the third floor. 9 followed dejectedly after. Ivy hadn't been on this floor yet, but was far from surprised to find that it was just as impressive as everywhere else in the house. They took her to a large door at the end of the hallway and opened it, ushering Ivy inside. The sight when she entered literally took her breath away.

The roof was hung with hundreds of fairy lights, that glowed softly against the deep green of the walls. The wall behind the bed was covered in fake vines that sprouted lilies from the ends and twisted their way up to the ceiling and twined with the lights. A giant gilded mirror took up all of one of the walls. Everything except for that was a different shade of green, from the emerald green of the blankets, to the dark green carpet. It was the most beautiful thing Ivy had ever seen.

"Who's room is this?" Ivy asked in awe.

"That would be mine" 7 answered with a small smile. 9 scowled in the background.

"This is stupid" she grunted as 7 led Ivy over to the large wicker chair that sat in front of the mirror and sat her down.

"Well then why don't you just leave?" 7 replied, her voice sugary sweet with dislike.

"Because I have far too much value for my own life, and your brother would most probably kill me if he saw me anywhere but here" she retorted, sitting down on the bed. 7 began tugging on Ivy's hair experimentally, ignoring what 9 said. Ivy felt something in her stomach clench.

"You know what, I really, really don't think this is a good idea" Ivy began starting to stand up. 7's hands grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back down.

"I disagree" 7 smiled, and then resumed the tugging. The clenching in her stomach worsened.

"No, honestly, I have this thing about my hair-" Ivy began.

"Ivy" 7 said exasperatedly, "I'm going to make you pretty. Don't worry".

"I like having blonde hair thanks anyway though" she said, starting to stand up again. This time there were two pairs of hands restraining her, and Ivy realised maybe there was more reason behind 9 being there than they had thought.

"You're doing this girl" 9 shook her head irritatedly.

After half an hour of chopping, washing and dying, Ivy surveyed herself in the mirror. Her formerly long platinum hair, was now cut into a short pixie like style, that was short and choppy in the back, and had a long, feathery fringe in the front. She was never going to be able to flick her hair again. But that wasn't even the worst part. The gorgeous blonde of her hair had been replaced by a shocking shade that was a cross between blue and black. She didn't look pretty anymore. She looked horrible. She didn't even recognise herself. She looked like some sort of cross between Rihanna and Victoria Beckham. She wanted to cry, and scream and throw up all at the same time. She just stared at herself as the tears welled very close to the surface. She looked like a boy.

"Wow, I'm good. You look so stylish" beamed 7, surveying her work with a gleam in her eye. Ivy stared for a few more seconds, and then, before she could stop herself, she let out a strangled cry and bolted from the room. She didn't stop running until she reached her bedroom and then she slammed the door and locked it. A few seconds later loud knocking came from outside.

"Ivy?" 7 called, sounding slightly panicked, "Ivy what's wrong"? Ivy collapsed face down on her bed and began to cry. Her hair, the only pretty thing left about her was ruined. She knew she was being shallow. It shouldn't matter to her if she was pretty or not. But it looked so horrible.

"I look like a man" she screamed at the door. This statement was followed by hushed murmurings and then another voice spoke.

"Ivy" it was 9, "You look fine. You look kind of... cool" the way she grunted the last word made it sound like some sort of insult, like it took a monumental amount of effort to even get the word out. Ivy threw something at the door.

"Go away, I look terrible" she wept. A new voice joined the girl outside.

"Chica? Are you okay?" 10 called worriedly. Then he began to say things rapidly in Spanish to (or possibly at) 7 and 9.

"I didn't do anything to her, and speak in bloody English, you're not in Italy now" 7 screeched, finally seeming to reach breaking point.

"I told you man ,what did I tell you" 6 joined in, bloody racist, all of them.

"Iv, are you okay?" 4 yelled, then began to yell threats, "7, if you made her ugly, I'm gonna tie you to a tree and rip your guts out with a pair of pliers you stupid, fat, whore".

"Oh that's it, I'm gonna kill your scrawny little ass" 7 screamed, "You better sleep with one eye open tonight you ugly little bitch". This was followed by a heavy thud as something weighing a substantial amount flew into her door. This was followed closely by a loud scream and the tip of a knife appeared through her door, right in the center.

"Oh my god, you almost stabbed me" screamed 4's voice, followed by more thuds. Then the knife came through again a lot higher and a lot more of it.

"My hair" screeched 7, "You stabbed my hair".

"That's enough" yelled a voice down the hall.

And then there was silence. Until two seconds later when the shots started.

...

**hello hello hello, **

**1stly i do apologise for leaving it on such a cliffhanger-esque note. but never fear my lovelies, because the next chapter is only minutes away from being finished.**

**I have a lot of things to say actually today. Much like always lol.**

**1st. you know I just realised that this is not a holes fic any more. At all. Not even slightly. there's not even any mentoin of CGL. Which means that I'm quite stupid, because I've written a fic for holes that isn't about holes.**

**it's like wow. A lot of people are reading this. but not very many are reviewing. Put it like this. Yesterday, I got about 30 people reading the last chapter. In one day. But for some reason I only got 5 reviews. That's 25 people who don't love me enough to even write a review. Just like 'hey I'm reading your story. i like ' (that's where you write the charcters name). How can I fully appreciate you if I don't know who you are?**

**Also, You know what I really want? A beta reader. Oh, actually, I think i'm gonna be one! That's exciting. I just decided that now. So who wants a beta hmm? I'm available lol. But i still want one. Only probably for my other story, because I don;t know what to do with it. I dont even know how to get one. I'm really crap at this whole ff thing right now, cos I'm still sort of new and I have no idea how to even get a beta reader. lol too cool.**

**Ace is almost back! I can picture it my head now. It's like on sitcoms, when a celebrity comes in that's really famous and everyone cheers, yeah thats the noise I imagine when ace comes back. It's funny.**

**I had something else really important to say, But I can't rememebr it. at all. It's really anoying.**

**Thanks for reading**

**xoxo**

**Bee**

**ah, wait i rememebred. if you want to see her hair, it's Victoria Beckham styled (the platinum blonde one, where she looks like a fairy sorta) and rihanna coloured. It's actually really nice and she's just being a bitch for no reason.**


	39. Under Siege

The spray of bullets shattered the glass windows at the front of the house. Ivy screamed and covered her ears. What the hell was going on?

Everyone who had accumulated outside her room began to yell and swear, and then Ivy heard a flurry of footsteps, followed by more shooting. Then there was more yelling and from downstairs, someone began to scream. Her door began to shake as somebody banged on it. She screamed louder and crawled right over to hide behind her bed. The banging got louder. And then the door flew off the things and Ivy peeped up over her bed to see 9 standing there looking round for her.

"Come with me" she said, grabbing her and dragging her full speed along the corridor and up to the third floor. The room they went into next wasn't one that Ivy been in before, not that she was paying much attention to that right now. There were guns everywhere. 9 grabbed one of the wall and threw it to Ivy, then grabbed a much bigger one for herself.

"Stay right behind me" she yelled over the sound of bullets, "And don't, whatever you do, shoot anyone on our side". With that she was out of the room and back down the corridor, Ivy running after her. There was no one on the third floor yet. 9 stopped at the top of the staircase and pressed herself against the wall. Ivy followed suit.

"What about the others?" Ivy murmured breathlessly. 9 put a finger to her lips.

"They can take care of themselves" she replied, then turned to look down the stairs. A man in a long black coat was running up towards them, with one large man on either side. All of them had their guns drawn and were looking around warily. 9 moved back around the corner and sighed resignedly.

"I fucking hate guns" 9 scowled, then turned back and shot the man smack bang in the middle of the forehead. The other two men yelled and began to run faster up the stairs, raising their guns and firing blindly. One of the paintings behind Ivy's head shattered as it was hit with a bullet and sprayed glass in all directions. A piece flew in Ivy's direction and she felt a sharp stinging sensation in her cheek. She ignored it as the men drew nearer and 9 shot another one. The last one was still coming and Ivy, ignoring the pain in her cheek, leant around the corner for a brief second and got the man squarely in the chest. He let out a shallow gasp and fell to the ground. 9 raised an eyebrow at her and Ivy waited for the scolding that she knew was about to come.

"Good shot" 9 said, and then grabbed Ivy's hand, dragging her down the stairs. She crouched down at the bottom and began to pat the pockets of the man she had just killed. She made a small contented nosie when she found something that she was looking for. They sat watched as four more men came running up from the first floor. They all split up and went into different rooms. Ivy heard loud screams come from one room, followed by a heavy thud. Only three more to go. A gunshot echoed around the house. Make that two. The last two men came running out of the rooms, and began to move towards the stairs. 9 gave an evil smile. She held up something shiny which Ivy quickly realised was a knife and threw it at the man in front. It didn't get him in any vital organs, instead moving him backwards and pinning him against the wall that he was running next to. 9 reached up and shot the other one, who had started to fire at her and Ivy. He let out a strained gurgle as blood rush out of his mouth and then fell to the ground. The other man was pulling on the knife. 9 reached up and threw another one, pinning his other arm to the wall. He yelled something and began to swear loudly. Other than that, the sound seemed to have died away. 9 stood up cautiously and brushed the shards of glass off her clothes.

"6?" she called, and a head popped out of the room closest to them. He smirked at them and held up a small bag of a rather interesting looking white powder. 9 raised an eyebrow?

"Dealers?" she asked curiously. He shook his head.

"No. I think it's just this one. But hey, this is more than enough" he smirked, winking at Ivy. She rolled her eyes.

"Go look downstairs" 9 told him, "Check the others, I've got up here". Ivy was amazed. This all seemed so professional. So... cool. It was then that she felt just how painful the stinging on her face was. She out a hand up to her cheek and felt a warm wet trail running right down her face. She pulled her finger away and it was bright red. She gasped and covered the gash with her hand. 9 looked at her.

You alright?" she asked, pulling at Ivy's hand. Ivy nodded, her eyes wide as she felt the blood begin to trickle down her neck. "What happened?" 9 inquired, more worried sounding than before.

"Nothing, just a bit of glass, I'm fine" the blood was starting to seep between her fingers now and she felt a little sick. "I'm gonna go wash my face" she said, rushing down the hallway to the bathroom. The man pinned to the wall glared at her as she walked past.

"Stupid bitch" he muttered. She wanted to ignore him, she really did. She tried her very best, but she couldn't help it.

"What did you call me?" she asked coldly turning around very slowly. She saw 9 move ever so slightly out of the corner of her eye, but something seemed to stop her from coming any closer. The man scowled.

"I said 'stupid bitch'" he told her, emphasising the words as though she were stupid. Ivy gave a small, icy smile, and punched the man hard right on the nose. He yelped and tried to clutch at his nose, but couldn't move his arms.

"I've had a really bad week" Ivy told him, as her fist made repeated contact with his stomach. He began to groan. "First I find out that I'm wanted for murder" she told him, punching him in the face again, "Then I get the haircut from hell" she kicked him in the shin, "and now I have a gigantic cut on my face. So do not mess with me right now" she said, putting both hands on his shoulders and pushing down so hard she ripped the knives from his sleeves before kneeing him in the stomach. Then she let go of him and happily watched as he collapsed into a pile on the floor. She spun and walked to the bathroom, feeling slightly better. She heard 9 laughing and 4, from in one of the bedrooms cheering "Atta girl".

...

It took a long time to get everything cleaned up. The whole of the first floor was covered in glass that crunched loudly as you walked through the room. When all of that was cleared up, there were the injuries to deal with. Thankfully no one was dead or even seriously injured, despite 3's complaints that 0 had once again tried to get him shot in leg, no such injury had actually occurred. Ivy and 8 were the only people who were even slightly injured, Ivy with her cut that turned out to be a lot worse than she thought and according to Queen was in some definite need of some stitches, although she absolutely refused to get them, and two who had been shot in the hand. Well actually shot was a bit of an over statement. Bullet had grazed his hand, and left a rather strange cut if you could call it that.

The most frustrating thing however turned out to be neither, the cleaning up, nor the patching up, but the interrogation. Queen had spent most of her time once everyone was seen to in the room with the man who 9 had 'saved' as she put it. He didn't seem as grateful for her deed as she thought he should be, and he solemnly refused to tell anyone anything. It wasn't until they seemed to realise that the good cop approach wasn't working, that the bad cop (more commonly known as King) was sent in.

After that a lot of screaming and shouting could be heard, as well as the occasional smell of burning. Ivy was quite happy that she wasn't in there. She would rather not know what was going on. Some things were better left to the imagination. Or better still, some things were best to just not be imagined at all. Like whatever King was doing to the man right now that made him scream so loudly. No one else seemed the slightest bit bothered by it. The only sign that they could even hear the screams was the occasional flinch from 4. She may be tough, but she wasn't a robot.

"Ivy, can I talk to you?" Queen said after a while, whether in an attempt to distract her from the noise or because she really meant it, Ivy couldn't tell. But she nodded gratefully anyway and followed queen through to the kitchen.

"This might sound a bit stupid" Queen began after some thought, "But I'm gonna say it anyway, because despite my original opinion, you're actually a lovely person. And I don't really want anything to happen to you". Ivy smiled uncertainly, unsure whether that was meant to be a compliment or not.

"I think, some time soon, King will ask you to do something for him. And I want you to say no" she said sounding extremely uncertain.

"Something?" Ivy asked, then flinched when more screams came from the room on the third floor.

"Something about a job that he has to do. I don't really know the details, he won't tell me yet. But that's not really important. Just tell me that you'll say no" Queen asked, as close to begging as Ivy ever thought she would get. Ivy surveyed her curiously. Why did Queen care so much? They weren't that close. Then it seemed to click.

"This isn't really about me, is it?" Ivy realised, "It's about him. You think that if I say no, then he won't be able to do it". Queen rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"Maybe. Why does it matter? That doesn't change what I'm asking you" she snapped.

"True. But I can't promise that Queen. Not until I know what he's going to ask" she shrugged. Queen glared at her.

"Please Ivy? Please? It's about you as well, and 9 too. I know enough to know that this isn't going to go well. Just say no" She sighed. Ivy thought it through. At first she couldn't understand. What if it was something important that had to get done? Something that was going to save the others from anymore of these kind of attacks. How could she stop King from doing that? How could one person be worth the lives of thirteen others? And then she realised that there was someone that she would do that for. She would do anything if it meant that Ace wouldn't get hurt. She would sacrifice any number of people for him. Even if he wouldn't give up one thing for her, it didn't matter, because he was worth everything to her. Was that how much Queen cared about King? That she was willing to lose everything just to keep him safe?

Ivy nodded. "Okay... Okay. I won't do it". Queen's face lit up and she grasped Ivy's hand gratefully.

"Thank you" she smiled, "You don't know how much that means". She left the kitchen with a huge smile on her face. Ivy leant against the bench tiredly. She did know. She knew all too well. She knew better. Because she knew what it was like to lose the one that she would give everything to have. Her King was somewhere off in the middle of Texas, digging holes all day. And she missed him so much it hurt. But nothing she could do would bring him back to her.

And even if he did come back, he wouldn't like her anymore with her stupid man haircut, and the scar that queen told her she was going to get on her face because of the glass. She was well and truly ugly now. She had no family, no looks, no friends, and most importantly no Ace. Everything was disappearing. Two years ago, she had been sitting at home with her parents, having a perfectly normal day. Now she had been to juvy, a mental hospital and she was a wanted fugitive. Not to mention having bad hair. Could her life get any worse?

...

**Yay, no cliffhanger this time. Sorry this a bit of a shorter chapter.**

**I've had it written for like two days, but I was so insanely sick yesterday, all I did was sleep and eat a lemonade ice block. It sucked. So I didn't put the chapter up here, because I was a bit busy sleeping. **

**And just for the record, because I think everyone thinks that Ivy's hair is actually ruined and that she's ugly now, SHE'S NOT. lol. It looks really pretty. Shes just having a bitch fit for no reason. Plus she was pretty anyway not just cos of her hair so even if it was ruined, it wouldn't matter. I would love to have hair like that. Only maybe not black, because I'm really white and then I'd look really emo lol.**

**Yeah, basically all the reviews said something about that so I just thought that I would chuck that in there. And everyone wants to know when Ace will be back. Well, I'm not gonna tell you exactly, because I want to surprise you, but it's really, really soon. I'm really excited haha.**

**Miss-Paparella, I was so flattered by your review lol. It made me want to update. I was going to anyway, but it made me want to even more.**

**Beautiful Seclusion, I'm using 9 so much, so I just wanted to make sure that you're okay with how her character's going. I know I said that I would make her nicer, but I thought, she seems more like... okay, I don't know if you've read twilight, but since practically everyone in the world has, I going to assume that you have and say she's a bit like Rosalie. You know it's like, she doesn't really trust Ivy, and plus she's mad at her, becuse she had like a totally perfect life and then just went and screwed it up for no good reason. So yeah.**

**Sopheyea- you're such a dick, lol. I don't know if you're actually up to this chapter now because all your reviews were like from chapter 7 down, but if you are then is Harry Rogers a real person? Because I didn't know that when I wrote it. And yeah, there actually is some serious sexual tension between Ace and Ivy. Are you shocked? Haha. And lastly, it was funny in the last review, when you were like your story's good, only you forgot an o so it said god. Like when people say things like soon but they say son. lol, that's the funniest thing ever.**

**okay, that's all for now.**

**xx**

**Bee**


	40. It's about family

King came back in later, at around 1 in the morning. Most of the people in the house were still sitting up waiting for him. Ivy was one of them, because after the attack she was too freaked out to be alone in her room. She was talking quietly to 7, who had decided to take the opportunity to tell Ivy how good her hair looked.

"Honestly, you look so stylish. It makes you look like a celebrity. That colour really suits. I mean, if I was a boy, I'd be all over you" she tried hopefully. Ivy couldn't stop the smile that came to her face.

"Really Iv" 10 leant over and joined in the persuading, "You look hot. I don't know what you're talking about with this whole 'man' thing". Ivy rolled her eyes. It was nice of them to try, but she knew how bad she looked, and no amount of convincing was going to change that. It was good that they had made the effort though, unlike all the others, who had looked at her scornfully and told her to grow up; it was just hair after all.

When King entered the room there was a loud rush of questions from all directions. He rubbed his head and held his hands up restrainingly. He motioned to Queen, 9 and 10 who jumped to their feet and walked out of the room. King looked round tiredly at everyone.

"I tell you all what happened later. Go to bed now and we'll talk about it in the morning" there were a few protests but King shook his head. "I mean it. Go now, you need some sleep". Everyone rose grudgingly to their feet and disappeared of in the different direction of their rooms.

Ivy couldn't sleep that night. She felt uncomfortable when she closed her eyes. Like there was something standing over her, watching her. She lay awake, tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in. Eventually she gave up and stopped trying. It was then that she began to think. She thought a bit about Mac, and how she never even got to say goodbye. How he probably died hating her. And she thought a bit about her friends back home. The letter from Kennedy that she had never replied to. What they must all think of her now that she was all over the news as an insane person. But mostly she thought about Ace. She thought about small, unimportant things like the first time she had met him and how he got mad at Shrink for making him show her around. Or the time when she was in the hole and the lizard had been crawling over her. She had been certain she was going to die. But she was lying here, alive, because of him. She remembered the time that they had been playing pool and she had freaked out when he touched her. And in particular she remembered that time in the morning when she went slightly crazy and kissed him. And Fin thought he had been bitten by a vampire. She laughed out loud when she remembered that.

She wondered if she would ever see any of them again. She didn't think so. She hoped she would, because she missed Fin and Snake and Fro, and even crazy Sparky, and Eight. She wasn't sure about Ace. Because as she lay there, she realised that he would come back from Camp Green Lake one day. And this was where he would come back to. So if she was still here at that time, then she really would get to see him again. But the chances of that happening were slim. She should be well gone from here by the time he got back. She wasn't even sure how long she was going to be staying. She hadn't even thought about leaving, but she wasn't going to be able to stay here forever. That thought made her stomach twist and she stopped herself from thinking about it anymore. She closed her eyes and found that it wasn't so awkward anymore when she thought about something other than the attack and within no time she was fast asleep.

...

Over the next few weeks Ivy's cut turned into a smooth white scar that showed up quite vividly against her tanned skin. There had been a number of attempts to make her feel better about it.

"It makes you look cool" 7 told her before adding hopefully, "And it goes with your hair".

"It makes you look really tough" 4 said, sounding almost envious.

"I think it's sort of hot. Like Angelina Jolie in Mr. And Mrs. Smith" 3 said thoughtfully.

"I think it looks like you have a scar" 9 told her, rolling her eyes, "What the hell else do you think it would look like"?

King didn't make any attempt to reassure her. Instead he raised an eyebrow at her and then said "I gotta talk to you". Ivy felt a sudden lurch in her stomach. Why would he need to talk to her? Was he going to kick her out? Where was she supposed to go if he threw her out? The cops were still looking for her, she'd have nowhere to go and they'd catch her and send her to jail for the rest of her life.

She followed him nervously to a large room that seemed like a dimly lit office. 9, 8, 10, 6 and Queen were already there. 9 seemed to choke slightly when she saw Ivy come in.

"What the hell is this? What's she doing here?" 9 glared at Ivy. King scowled at her.

"She's here because I told her to come" he replied coldly.

"Well you shouldn't have. It's nothing to do with her" she spat.

"I must be mistaken 9, because I swear I just heard you tell me what to do. Ivy's staying, if you have a problem with that then you can leave" King answered steadily, not taking his gaze off 9. She glared furiously at him, but didn't move and he turned his gaze to the others.

"I heard some interesting news from Randy Cage" he began, propping his elbows up on the table and lacing his finger together under his chin. 8 scowled and 10 made a gagging sound. 9 muttered something under her breath which didn't sound very pleasant. King ignored all of this.

"He told me they're getting in a shipment of something we might be interested in. Some 'heavy artillery' he described it as. Said he wants to talk to Ace about it as soon as possible". Queen raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is that all? What's the problem then?" she enquired curiously.

"There was more. He said he had heard some information that we might be interested in. He wouldn't get too specific over the phone but..." he glanced in Ivy's direction, "I think it's something to do with the other part of Ace's letter". Ivy frowned. There was most definitely something that she was being left out of here. Why did he even want her here if he was just going to censor himself?

"What about it?" 8 asked sharply, looking at Ivy for a split second and the looking back at King.

"He said he thinks he knows some people who might know about it. Vega and Jones over in Inglewood"

"Inglewood? What would he be doing over there, it's hardly Hollywood is it?"

"Firstly, 6, you ain't hardly in a position to be talking, and secondly, that's exactly what I intend to find out" King replied, "quickly too".

"How soon is quickly?" 8 asked tensely.

"I was thinking one week" he said and 8 shook his head unpromisingly.

"Me and 7 have a..." he gave Ivy another glance, "prior engagements coming up. We're gone all of next week".

"I know-"King began before Queen cut him off.

"Wait, 7's gone?" She asked worriedly, "And you knew?" She turned to King looking absolutely furious. "I told you not to do this, you're being completely stupid-"

"Calm down woman. I don't know what you're talking about" he rolled his eyes calmly.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about" she hissed. He looked at 10 and jerked his head at the door. 10 stood up uncertainly and took a rather gentle grasp on Queen's arms.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she spat viciously, "I'm not some little minion that you can just drag off when I disagree with you. If I told Ace about this-"

"Ace believes in the good of the whole" he retorted icily as 10 moved her more firmly towards the door, "and if you can't do the same, then I have every right to take you out of here, before you screw things up for everyone". Ten closed the door behind them as he got Queen fully out of the room. King let out an exasperated sigh and ignored the yelling that was coming from outside the door, that was growing fainter and fainter every second.

"As I was saying, I know you and 7 aren't here" King repeated, "I had something else in mind". He looked at Ivy and 9 seemed to realise something.

"You must be joking" she hissed, "Are you out of your mind?"

"Not you too" he groaned.

"She doesn't know what she's doing King, she'll ruin everything. Do you have a death wish?" she sounded almost hysterical.

"Do you have a better suggestion?" he replied, venomously. She opened and shut her mouth a few times, seemingly speechless and then sat back against her chair angrily and crossed her arms over her chest, silenced for the second time that day.

"Man, I don't think this is a good idea either" 6 began but stopped talking at one of the most deadly looks ever from King.

"Can someone tell me what's going on here?" Ivy sighed frustratedly. King looked at her and gave a very forced, fake smile.

"Ivy. Here's the deal. Where we're going to go, well, we need to be a bit under cover" he stopped looking at her as though she should understand that. She stared back blankly and he sighed.

"If we take in people who are clearly bodyguards, they're gonna be a bit suspicious" he continued, and she started to see where he was going, "usually we'd take 7 and 9, but 7's gonna be gone".

"Why can't you use Queen?" Ivy asked, thinking she had us come up with a great alternative for them. King pursed his lips slightly exasperatedly.

"Ivy, Queen's one of the key players in one of the biggest gangs in LA. She's a bit recognisable. We need people they won't suspect".

"Then why can you go? If they know her, then they'll definitely know you" she reasoned.

"They'll expect the guys to be important" 9 scowled, "Bloody sexists".

"Anyway" King shot her a warning look, "We need someone to replace 7. Queen's too obvious, and 4's too young. We could find someone from outside to do it, but we want to get the job done as fast as we can. That leaves you. Will you do it"? Ivy's memory flashed back to a few nights ago in the kitchen, and Queen telling her this was going to happen. And her promising that she would say no.

"I can't" she answered abruptly. King frowned at her. 9 rolled her eyes and 8 glared at her.

"You can't?" he asked sarcastically.

"I mean. I don't think it would be a good idea. I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me not knowing what to do" she lied quickly. She didn't think telling King the real reason behind her refusal would be a very good idea.

"We can teach you. 9 will teach you" he said swiftly.

"I just don't think it's a good idea" she shrugged.

"Oh, for Christ's sake, man up" 9 groaned and then rolled her eyes as King glared at her.

"Ivy. What if I told you that this might help more than just us? What if I told you that we might know the whereabouts of someone who you'd want to find?"

"That would depend who it was" she replied coolly.

"This might help you to find your brother" King told her and watched in satisfaction as Ivy's eyes widened in shock.

"My brother's dead" she replied after a few seconds of shocked silence.

"We're not so sure about that" King replied smiling as the look on Ivy's face changed.

"I'm in".

...

"You said you wouldn't do it" Queen said to her as they sat alone in one of the lounges. She had calmed down after she originally found out that Ivy had said yes. Now she just seemed resigned, if slightly sad.

"I didn't have any choice" Ivy replied, feeling bad, but not willing to retract her agreement to join the expedition.

"Of course you had a choice" Queen scowled, "You always have a choice".

"Queen, he's my brother. It's about family" Ivy implored.

"It's about my family too Ivy. I'm just trying to do what's best for them. And he won't listen to me, but I thought that you would" she said icily, standing up, "Apparently I was wrong". She walked out of the room and Ivy collapsed against the back off her chair, burying her face in her hands. She didn't regret her decision but she did feel bad. She understood where Queen was coming from. But she had just learned that her brother might be alive. How could she give up the opportunity to find him?

...

She spent the next few days with 9, which was terrifying enough, without finding that they were going to be alone. On the first day 9 taught her the rules.

"Look pretty, act stupid and don't talk" 9 told her sharply, "That's the most important rule. If you talk, then they know that you have a brain. Which means bad news in their books. Even if they say something about you, which they will, don't get angry. Just laugh. You don't have to worry about them asking you anything, because they won't. If they try to touch you, King will stop them. Whatever you do, do not try and stop them yourself. That will blow the whole thing. You hurt them, they hurt us. And make no mistake, they'll be a hell of a lot better at it than those amateurs that got sent after us a few weeks ago.

If anything goes wrong, then get out of there. King will tell you to stay. Do not listen to him. You don't know enough yet, and you'll just get in the way or get killed, which could be a bad thing in the long run. Probably more for us than for you" she added thoughtfully, "I'm going to teach you as much as I can, but this is a stupid idea, and everyone knows it, even if King won't admit it. But that doesn't matter. The point is that if you keep your mouth shut and do what I told you, then nothing will go wrong and you won't have to worry about anything else anyway".

On the second day, 9 taught her how to use guns, despite the fact that guns 'weren't half as effective as fists'. They were apparently necessary, because if everyone else had them, you were pretty much screwed if you didn't. She seemed reasonably impressed by Ivy's skill, although she seemed to manage to find something wrong with practically everything she did. Then on the third day, 9 seemed to be relishing the fact that she had a valid excuse to hit Ivy, as they worked on hand to hand combat. Although she couldn't hit hard enough to leave a bruise in case it didn't fade by the next day, she definitely wasn't going easy on her. Ivy had always thought that she was quite good at fighting. 9 made her think again. King came in later to check how they were going.

"9 what are you doing?" he barked when he saw them wrestling with each other on the floor.

"We're practicing" 9 replied as she flipped Ivy onto her back and stood up.

"Practicing what? I told you to teach her to shoot and what to do. I don't remember saying anything about this" he told her incredulously, walking over and pulling Ivy off the floor.

"Oh come one King, I was just being thorough. I didn't want to send her in unprepared" she smiled sweetly and he rolled his eyes.

"If one of us gets killed because she screws up, I'm blaming you" he told her and then left the room.

"Are you kidding me?" Ivy groaned when she got her breath back. "You were just doing that for fun"? 9 shrugged.

"Don't worry. It wasn't that fun. Well, actually, it was" she smirked. Ivy glared at her.

"Did I do something to you?" she asked exasperatedly, confused as to why 9 disliked her so much.

"Did you do something to me? Not specifically no. But you do complain a lot" she shrugged.

"That's a good reason to hate me" Ivy scowled.

"I don't hate" 9 said frankly, "You just annoy me"

"Well then tell me why, and I'll try and be less annoying"

"I doubt you could do that" 9 muttered sarcastically.

"Try me" Ivy replied sincerely.

"You want to know why you annoy me?" 9 turned around and glared icily at Ivy, and suddenly she had second thoughts about her question, "You annoy me, because you're a spoilt little brat who had a perfect life with your rich little family who loved you in Beverly Hills. People would kill for that. And I mean that quite literally. But what do you do with it? You go and get drunk and steal a car and kill some people. Because you were bored or whatever reason you had for doing it. It doesn't even matter, because you had it made and you just threw it away. I think you're pathetic. I think that you don't deserve to have everything that you had because you're a selfish, annoying, insecure little brat. So there you go. That's why you annoy me. Happy now?"

She didn't wait for an answer as she stormed out of the room. Ivy just stared after her open mouthed. Well. She definitely hadn't been expecting that.

...

**Beautiful Seclusion, you re the greatest person ever. You are the most faithful of the great faithful reviewers. and you always have great stuf to say and you tell me when I'm screwing up and you just rock full stop. I heart you. you're so cool. seriously. if everyone was as cool s you, this site would be awesome. And i totally want you to beta for me. only how do I do that? and sorry it took me such a long time to tell you, I just kept forgetting to say it in the notes. But that would be great. I would adore it. Just tell me how to actually get you to beta for me and I'll do it!**

**Miss-Paparella, you're unbelievablely awesome to you know. You're so just, like amazing, and you were my first reviewer and you always review, and I totally know what you mean about the hair thing. I hate it when guys change their hair and it looks really bad. Or when they just have naturally bad hair, like if they use a ton of gel or somthing and it's like really hard and sticky and gross. Ew. lol.**

So guess what? **I've written the next chapter already. And then I wrote the next chapter after that, only it turned out that after I wrote it, I didn't like it so I had to get rid of the whole thing. But I still have the next chapter done. You guys are going to love it. But I'm not gonna put it on yet, just because I need to make sure it'll fit in the long run. That and I can use it to bribe the people who don't review. Only I'm not actully gonna do that. haha. but yeah, I'll put it on tomorrow. It's my last day of holidays tomorrow. I'm gutted as. :(**

**I hate school.**

**Yeah, guess what I found out? You know when you're saying its as in like 'the baby ate its foot" or something, the its doesn't have an apostrophe. I'm so dumb. I've been at school for like how many years and I only just learned that today when my brother was like its doesn't have an apostrophe when he was reading this thing project I was doing and I was like... whatever but then he was right and I was like oh...**

**lol. that's all**

**xx**

**Bee.**

**(review!)**


	41. The talented Mr Howard

Ivy slipped on the biggest pair of sunglasses she could find in 7's drawer. With her face plastered all over the news, she didn't want to take any risks of anyone recognising her. She did the best she could with her hair, despite the fact that it still looked terrible. Then she pulled on a sparkly black dress and some high heels and walked downstairs to where King and 6 were waiting. 6 was dressed in a chauffeurs uniform and Ivy covered her mouth to suppress the laugh that was building up inside her. He scowled and poked his tongue out at her. Ivy smiled and King shook his head. 9 came down the stairs a few seconds later dressed much like Ivy, minus the sunglasses.

"Let's get this show on the road then" she said, purposefully ignoring Ivy. They hadn't talked since the disaster the day before and 9 didn't seem very eager to change that, refusing to so much as look at her. They sat uncomfortably- on Ivy's part at least- in the back of the car as 6 drove them towards their destination, in a long black stretch limo with tinted windows and champagne in buckets. What annoyed Ivy about the car was the loud hip-hop music that 6 insisted on playing, despite protests from both her and 9.

"Do you remember the drill?" King asked her, minutes away from the place they were heading. Her stomach twisted nervously but she nodded.

"Sure. Don't talk, get back to the car without getting shot" she murmured, unable to raise her voice any louder than a whisper. She hadn't realised until about two seconds ago that she was so nervous. King looked around at her agitatedly.

"You alright?" he questioned uncomfortably. It wasn't really a question, so much as a warning. Ivy gulped and kept quiet, afraid that if she spoke she would be sick. What was she thinking, walking into a deal between gang members and some shady guy who might possibly have some information about where her brother just might be? This was crazy. King was looking in between angry and scared.

"Shit" he said, "Shit! What the hell? 9, what the hell"?

She looked back angrily, "it's not my bloody fault" she hissed, then turned to Ivy. "Ivy look at me" she said calmly, grabbing her chin lightly and turning it towards her, clearly forgetting that she wasn't talking to her. "You're going to be fine. Just stay quite, do exactly what I do. You can't back out now. If you keep freaking out, we're all dead. Now do you want to die"? Ivy shook her head. "That's right, you want to see your brother don't you?" 9 said soothingly and Ivy nodded. "Good. Then do this, and you will. You just need to stay calm. Breath and relax". Ivy breathed and thought about Mac. She had to do this. For him. If he was out there, she had to find him. She felt the knot in her stomach loosening. And then 6's voice rang out loud and clear through the car.

"We're here".

Ivy looked outside and saw much to her surprise a strip club. Well, at least the movies were true. Pretty much all shady business went down in strip clubs. The pictures of half naked girls covered the windows, and a large neon image flashed over the door. Dim light came through the door and music reached her ears as 6 turned off the engine of the car. She took a deep breath and followed 9 out of the car. The smell of smoke as soon as she neared the door filled her nose and made her grimace. King wrapped one arm around her and one around 9. She moved closer to him, not because she was acting, but because she was feeling the nerves coming back about twenty times worse.

"Smile" he hissed in her ear and she forced a smile onto her face. He walked down a dimly lit hallway that went behind the main room, to a large oak door. There were some men standing outside, who nodded when they saw him approaching and knocked on the door.

"Mr. Vega, Mr. Jones, you have a visitor" one of them called through the door. There was the sound of a lock being undone and then a man appeared on the other side, in a softly lit office.

"Ah, Mr. Kingston" he smiled, "come in". He had a croaky voice, that sounded like he had smoked far too many cigarettes, and he was wearing a very expensive looking suit. He opened the door wider and ushered King and the girls in. They walked over to the chairs in front of a large wooden desk, behind which sat a man who looked to be in his late fifties, with white hair, a small white goatee and olive skin. He was extremely attractive, even for someone who was clearly far too old for her. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"So who are these lovely young ladies?" asked the first man, who came over and took a seat behind the desk, slightly back from the other man.

"This is Jenny and Eva" King seemed to be improvising, although Ivy couldn't tell, he did it so smoothly.

'Well Mr. Kingston, you have really outdone yourself this time, although I must say, I fail to see why you would need to bring them here" said the other man, who had a lovely deep voice, with a slight Italian accent.

"We have some plans after this" King told him with a suggestive smirk. Ivy stopped herself from screwing up her face. 'Plans' with King. Ew.

"Well, aren't you lucky" leered the other man, looking Ivy up and down hungrily. King tightened his grip on her slightly.

"Can I get you something to drink?" the Italian one asked, ignoring his far less tactful counterpart.

"No, thank you" King declined.

"Ladies?" Ivy looked at 9 who shook her head and she followed suit quickly.

"Such a shame that Mr. Howard could not make it. He is such wonderful company" the Italian said.

King nodded, "Yes, he's been called away on some important business".

"More important than us?" asked the croaky one. King shook his head swiftly.

"Of course not" he answered hurriedly, "But unavoidable unfortunately".

The small talk continued for a few minutes, and Ivy was surprised that they didn't run out of things to talk about. Eventually they got sick of it.

"Very well. Onto business then" the croaky one said, "We hear that you have something that we want".

"We hear the same about you" King replied.

"Yes, well, we'll get to that later. But first, the shipment that our dear friend Randy Cage is bringing in. Word has it that you're getting some cheap stock" Croaky asked. King shook his head.

"I don't know who told you that, but it isn't true. We're paying the same as everyone else" he assured them. The men exchanged glances.

"You best not be lying to us Mr. Kingston" The Italian murmured calmly.

"Of course not"

"Make no mistake, if you are, we will find out" Croaky hissed, sounding far less calm.

"Don't worry Mr. Jones, I wouldn't lie to you two. We're trusted business associates aren't we?" he smiled, but he sounded a little on edge. They exchanged another look.

"I think you are mistaken Sir. You see, Mr. Howard is a trusted business associate of ours. Any emissary of his is not however. And we do assume that you are here as an emissary and not of your own accord?" murmured the Italian. King was seeming more on edge. Ivy felt her stomach begin to churn again, she could tell that this wasn't going well.

"Yes. My mistake Mr. Vega. Perhaps we should talk about Mr. Howard's request then" he asked, keeping his voice steady despite his ever tightening grip on Ivy's shoulder.

"Perhaps we should" smirked Croaky, "Tell us, was it the boy that you were looking for news of"? King nodded. The Italian and Croaky exchanged another of their secretive looks.

"Yes, we have heard a lot about him" said the Italian, "he seems to be rather a topic of conversation around here of late". Ivy wanted to throw up.

"So he's not dead?" asked King, and as soon as he said it, Ivy realised he had just lost any chance of them telling him the answer.

"Mr. Kingston, you've given us nothing, why on earth do you assume that we would give you free information?" Croaky laughed.

"We need to know this" King said, and he sounded like he was starting to get angry. Ivy saw 9 pinch his leg hard under the table but he didn't seem to notice.

"That's a pity isn't it" replied Croaky smugly.

"I'm not kidding here" King said angrily, his jaw clenching furiously. 9 let out a high pitched, but close to hysterical giggle.

"I'm bored now baby, can we go?" she pouted, twirling her fingers through his hair.

"You should listen to your friend Mr. Kingston, we would hate to do something to anger Mr. Howard" the Italian said warningly.

"Vega, we need this information, you can have anything you want" he grabbed Ivy and shoved her towards the table, "here, take her. You can keep her, but tell us where the boy is". Ivy let out a small shriek and scrambled away from the desk as the Italian man glared at King.

"We don't want your whores Kingston. Leave now" he snapped as Ivy climbed back into her seat, glaring at King from behind her sunglasses.

"You seem to have forgotten that I'm much bigger than you Mr. Vega" King said warningly. The Italian smiled and reached into a drawer in his desk and pulled out a revolver. The door opened behind them and the sound of what Ivy assumed was the bodyguards entering the room could be heard. Ivy waited for the shooting to begin. She had to admit that this wasn't really how she had hoped it would end. Even the yellow spotted lizard would have been nicer than dying in the back of a strip club. But no bullets came out of any guns. Instead a voice spoke. A voice she had never expected to hear again. Her heart did a somersault in her chest when she heard it, in it's beautiful, deep, calm familiarity.

"Sorry I'm late" said the voice from the door way.

"Ah, Mr. Howard" said the Italian, placing the gun down on his desk.

"Vega. It's been awhile" Ace smirked, sitting down in the chair next to 9, "I ain't interrupting anything am I"? The look he shot King was murderous.

"As a matter of fact, you are" Croaky answered, "You're associate here was just reminding us how much bigger he is than us". Ace grinned and shrugged.

"Well, I'll just have word to him about that won't I. But you can't really blame him. You know what they get like when they take too many of those steroids" he tapped his head indicatively.

"Clearly" the Italian said, eyeing up King with serious dislike.

"But it ain't a problem now right boys?" Ace asked hopefully. They exchanged one of their glances.

"I have to say Mr. Howard, your shocking grasp of the English language despite it being your native tongue never ceases to amaze me. I find it surprisingly endearing as always" the Italian smiled. Ivy let out the breath that she had been holding in.

"We will let it slide this time. But be warned this is the one and only chance you are getting. Next time you come back here, you had better have something worth saying, or we shan't be so lenient" Croaky told him, his gaze never leaving King who was staring pointedly down at the ground.

"Greatly appreciated gentlemen. Now, it was great to see you, but if you don't mind, I have some rather urgent business to attend to" Ace said, the smile never leaving his face. Ivy couldn't take her eyes off him. She hadn't looked away once since he walked into the room, despite the fact that he hadn't even glanced her way since he came in. She had tried to look away, because she didn't want to do anything more that might upset the men, but she couldn't help herself. He was back. How was she meant to focus on anything else?

"Again? My, you are busy aren't you" Croaky said.

"Sometimes" Ace shrugged casually.

'Well, very well. It was nice to see you, although the circumstances were somewhat... Unpleasant" the Italian said, glaring at King once more.

"You got that right Vega" Ace answered, standing up, "we really must be goin' now". He began to walk out of the room. 9 didn't move and Ivy wasn't sure what to do. She didn't want to do anything that 9 wasn't doing, because despite the fact that they were safe now, she was still feeling sick at how close she had come to dying. King stood up abruptly and stormed towards the door. Ace stopped him with a small smirk.

"Come on now Kingy, where's your manners?" Ace asked him, the warning evident in his voice. King glared at him for a few seconds before turning around and smiling forcedly at the men.

"Thanks a bunch" he said, then turned and finished his stomp from the room. 9 followed after him and Ivy flitted along behind her while Ace smiled and shrugged at the men, before saying one final goodbye and leaving the room. As soon as they got outside the club the smile abruptly disappeared from Ace's face. The anger that replaced it was sudden and terrifying. 9 walked over to him, and put a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged her off.

"What the _fuck_ were you thinking" he yelled at King, "Are you fucking insane, or is this some kind of joke? You're lucky I don't shoot your fucking face off right now". 9 grabbed him and moved him towards another car that was parked outside the club. He shook her off again angrily and turned and stormed over to the car, climbing in and slamming the door behind him. 9 went around the other side and opened the door. All Ivy heard was a loud "Fuck off!" and then the door closing quietly. 9 walked back over and stood, watching as Ace sped off down the road into the darkness.

"He shouldn't be driving like that" 9 said anxiously. Ivy had never heard 9 sound anxious before. But she was too distracted to even notice. This was her great reunion with Ace? He hadn't even looked at her. He hadn't said anything to her. Did he even know that she was there? He hadn't even recognised her. That must be it. Her new haircut was so bad he honestly thought she was someone else completely.

"Get in the car" King said gruffly. Ivy followed dazedly after him and 9 to the car and got in. She didn't notice as the car started and they started the short journey home. She felt tears welling up in her eyes and they began to spill down her cheeks. She didn't tune back into the conversation until she heard her name.

"And what the hell was that shit you pulled with Ivy huh?" 9 sounded close to hysterical.

"I was trying to get the information we needed" he muttered.

"By _selling me_? I'm not some little whore that you can just give away for something you want" Ivy spat, drawn out of her state of confusion by the memory of King pushing her onto the desk "You're an idiot King. I can't believe we ever even tried this. It was stupid. We almost got killed. He was seconds away from shooting you. If Ace hadn't of showed up-"

"I get it okay!" he yelled, seeming to finally reach his breaking point, "it was my fault, I screwed up. I'm gonna get enough shit from him, so can you just shut up". He buried his face in his hands and groaned. 9 sat back against the seat looking tired. Ivy curled up in a ball on the seat next to 9 and started to cry again. And 6 sat in the front, driving the car.

"So I guess I'm not gonna get to use any of my awesome talents tonight huh?" he asked as they pulled into their garage, "I'm starting to feel like I should wear this uniform all the time". King was out of the car almost before it had stopped moving, racing inside. 9 followed more slowly, looking down at Ivy and then sighing and walking inside as well. 6 looked uncertain whether or not he should leave her alone, but after awhile seemed to grow too awkward with the situation to leave it any longer and went inside. Ivy lay in the limo for a few more minutes and then sat up, opening her door and climbing out as well. She traipsed inside and up the stairs, ignoring any of the questions that she was asked on the way to her bedroom. She climbed exhaustedly into bed and promptly fell into a light, troubled sleep, where she dreamt about guns, and Ace and old men with Italian accents.

She woke in the night twice. Firstly to loud yelling. She recognised Ace's voice. She seemed to catch some random words from the conversation.

"Never do that again... bad idea... What were you thinking... _Tried to give her away_?" Ace seemed to get really angry at this and she heard the sound of something shattering before she drifted back in to her confused state of sleep.

The second time, she heard a door near hers slam loudly and she woke with a start, only to fall straight back asleep.

...

**The end. Well, of the chapter anyway. But Ace is back! Yay!**

**Sorry, there's not any Ace and Ivy loveyness, and shit. Not that there usually is. I don't really do that kind of thing.**

**Beautiful seclusion, omg, your name's long. I'm gonna make up a nickname for you since I always have something to say to you lol. okay. You could be... I don't know. How bout B-Sec lol, just kidding. I'd say BS, only no haha. you could be B. only that's me. So maybe not. You can be S. That's you now okay? If I say S, I'm talking to you. Sorry if you don't like it. You can tell me and I'll change it. lol. Anyway, onto the actual point of the note, I'm really annoyed, because my email just completely broke down and i can't send them. So I can't email you. So you can't beta for me until it starts working again. Which should be soon. But still, just telling you why this is sucky but unavoidable lol. Sorry :(**

**InsanexKoneko, I am indeed better, thanks :):) i was super happy about him coming back too. He's sooo cool. I reckon if he was real, he'd just be so awesome. :D**

**I've officially given up on asking non reviewers to review. they never do anyway lol. **

**I'm gonna start on the chapter which I screwed up now because it was all just yay Ace and Ivy, but it was sucky, so I deleted it and now I'm writing a new one.**

**xoxo**

**Bee**


	42. Pour your heart out

**Okay, listen to a sad song at the start of this, and it will actually make you sad, like I don't know, just something sad with lots of piano. Otherwise it just sucks. lol**

**...**

"Why are you even talking to me?" Ace's voice came from in the lounge. Ivy was walking to the lounge in her pajama bottoms and a tank top after a long sleep in, but froze outside the door when she heard the voices.

"Because, I'm trying to explain something important," King sounded annoyed.

"Well I don't wanna talk to you, I already fucking told you. Give me two days and I'll be over it, but stay the hell away from me until then." Ace sounded quite casual about it. King muttered something furiously and stormed out the door, stopping briefly to glare at her before disappearing up the stairs. Ivy didn't know if she wanted to go in there anymore. It didn't seem like such a good idea. But she hadn't seen him in so long. She took a deep breath and walked through the door.

As soon as she saw him, a million things to say flooded into her head. 'I miss you.' 'I'm sorry I killed Jack.' 'I'm sorry I left you at camp'. 'Thank you for saving my life'. And then there was always 'I love you'.

"Hey" she said lamely. He turned the TV off and looked at her. She felt her heart skip a beat as his eyes raked slowly up and down her body. It didn't feel sleazy. It just felt like he was trying to remember.

"Hey" he sounded distant. She didn't move any further into the room, just stood rather uncomfortably in front of the door.

"So... thanks." She came out with eventually, after a few seconds of silence just dripping with unspoken words.

"For what?" He asked, never taking his eyes off her.

'For saving my life. For coming back. For getting me out of the mental asylum. For being you' she didn't say any of that.

"For showing up last night," she said, messing her hair up with her hand. He looked a little disappointed. He shrugged.

"Not a problem," he muttered, his eyes still locked onto hers. Her knees were starting to go weak. The silence that followed was still full, expectant.

"Sorry," he said finally, Ivy swallowed. She suddenly felt like crying although she didn't know why.

"Why?" her voice was barely above a whisper. Was it for letting her go on the walk by herself? Or not saying goodbye? For not being honest with her from the start? For not being there for her when she was going crazy without him? He stared into her eyes, silent for a few more seconds. The anticipation almost hurt.

"For..." he stopped, and the look on his face seemed to change slightly "For King. He shouldn't have done what he did".

"Oh" she murmured, as disappointment flooded her body, "oh, yeah. Yeah, um, thanks". She stood for a few more seconds.

"Well, I should go" she said, trying not to sound sad. The smile she gave was weak.

"Yeah," his voice was low, and had a note of acceptance in it, "I have stuff to do anyway."

"Okay" she murmured, her voice barely audible

"Okay" he muttered back. This was her chance. She couldn't let him leave the room without telling him. She had to do it. This was the perfect opportunity. He stood up but he didn't walk away. Instead, he just stood looking at her. His eyes were even more beautiful than she remembered. She couldn't do it. She just couldn't.

"Okay" she whispered again, close to tears, turning to go.

"Rocky, wait" his voice was desperate, and she turned faster than she had ever moved in her entire life.

"Yeah?" she said far too eagerly, but she didn't even care.

"I, I..." he stopped again, and he cleared his throat awkwardly, "it's good to see you". Every fiber in her body seemed to slump. The disappointment was a million times worse than before.

"You too," she whispered shakily and then flitted from the room. She felt a tear fall down her cheek before she could stop it. She didn't even know why she was crying. What did she expect? Some admission of love, and then they would live happily ever after with no problems? She shouldn't have been so naive. But this? Was she really just going to live with this? She could fix it herself, if she would just man up, and tell him the truth. Where was her tough, hit man shooting self when she needed it? She could do this, she knew she could. Even if he didn't feel the same way, she had to tell him how she felt or she would always wonder. And she couldn't live with a 'what if' hanging over her head.

She turned back around and walked into the room. He was at the door about to leave. She put a hand on his chest to stop him and closed the door behind them. Their eyes made contact again and her heart skipped a beat. Of course she had to tell him this.

"Ace, wait. I'm sorry, and not because of what King did. I'm sorry I left, and I'm sorry I killed Jack and got kicked out and I never got a chance to tell you that I lo-"

The door opened and Ivy was cut off by a loud shriek. 4 came barreling into them and jumped on Ace hugging him.

"I missed you so much!" She yelled, her voice muffled by his shirt as she buried her face in his chest. Ivy took a shocked step backwards. What had she been about to do? Was she crazy? She covered half of her face with one hand. This was crazy. It was lucky 4 had stopped her. Ace was staring at her with his mouth half open. She had scared him. She should have just kept her mouth shut. She swore softly, turned and bolted out of the room. She heard a loud thud behind her and feet following her.

"Wait, Rocky, wait" he called, and she turned with a pained expression on her face at the end of the hallway. He stood in the door at the opposite end. "Finish," he was almost begging, "finish that sentence".

"No, Ace, don't worry. Just forget about it." She said, wanting to cry all over again this was mortifying.

"Jesus Rock, just do what I ask, one time!" He yelled.

"It doesn't matter alright?" She practically screamed. Why was she getting so emotional? She should just turn and go. So that was exactly what she did. Her footsteps seemed to echo along the hallway. It sounded eerie, almost like someone on death row. She might as well be. He swore behind her and she heard a loud thump as something she assumed was a fist made contact with a wall. She should have just kept her mouth shut to begin with.

As she disappeared into the next room, she heard 4 come out into the hallway.

"Why do I get the feeling I just interrupted something?" She murmured worriedly. Ace didn't answer. Or if he did, Ivy shut the door before she could hear it.

She kept going until she reached her room. Then she lay on her bed for what could have been minutes, or could have been hours, thinking over the stupid thing she had just done. As it started to get colder, and she started to get hungrier, she headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Queen was the only other person in there, and she was just on her way out when Ivy came in. She surveyed Ivy interestedly.

"Congratulations" she smirked finally, pulling her long chocolate brown hair out of its hair tie and shaking it out. Ivy stared back at her quizzically.

"Sorry, what?" she asked uncertainly.

"I thought he had changed. Apparently I was right, but it wasn't anything to do with that juvie he went to." Ivy remained completely perplexed by these statements. Queen was smirking at her, but there was almost a hint of respect in her eyes.

"I'm not following," Ivy repeated tentatively.

"You know what princess? Don't worry about it." She smiled, and then turned and walked out of the room, leaving a very perplexed Ivy in her wake. She watched Queen saunter from the room and frowned. How did King deal with some of the things she said? She was far too cryptic for her own good; he must get sick of it. Even though their 'relationship', if it could even be called that, didn't seem to have very much to do with the emotional side of things. Ivy had heard little more about them after the first comments by 4 and 10, but she couldn't imagine King being much of the sensitive type. She could guess their relationship relied more on the physical side of things. But then that shouldn't be a problem, since both of them were extremely attractive people. King in more of a strong silent type sort of way and Queen's face really spoke for itself. Come to think of it, all the girls in this house were extremely pretty. It was quite strange actually: Queen was the most beautiful person Ivy had ever seen and 9 was gorgeous too, but in more of a classical way, 7 looked like a movie star or something, with her perfect hair and stunning smile, not to mention the fact that she was the nicest person in the house, and 4 was at the very least cute. Or at least she was when she wasn't swearing and screaming, which wasn't a whole lot of the time now that Ivy thought about it.

It seemed strange to Ivy to think that pretty girls would be in a gang. She kind of imagined stocky girls with short hair that walked round with baseball caps and gym shoes on. It was a bit disconcerting that the closest one to fitting that description was 4, who was about four feet tall. But then it made sense. Who better for undercover work than pretty girls? Who was going to suspect their girlfriend was actually a spy for one of the most notorious gangs in the city? It was genius.

She didn't hear the door opening quietly behind her. The soft scrape of the wood against the linoleum didn't pull her out of her thoughts. She felt someone sit down next to her and looked up to see Ace sitting looking at her.

"Did I mention that you look different?" He asked quizzically, tilting his head to the side slightly. She scowled bitterly.

"I know," she sighed, "My hair right? It looks horrible; you don't need to tell me". He raised an eyebrow at her. A cold breeze blew through the open kitchen window and she shivered.

"Horrible? That ain't exactly the word I woulda used." He answered thoughtfully, reaching out and playing with her bangs gently. She tried not to react to the sudden tingling feeling that ran up and down her spine. His head was on a perfect angle, if she just moved a little closer, they would- no. No, they wouldn't this was a serious conversation.

"Ugly, terrible, disgusting? They all work pretty well too," she offered sourly, keeping her mind off the heat that was coursing through her body due to his closeness. He smirked and took his hand back, resting it on the cold marble bench top.

"I was thinkin' more along the lines of pretty. But, hey, if that doesn't work for you..." he shrugged and Ivy's heart leapt inside her chest. He thought she looked pretty? Unless he was joking. That must be it. He must be joking.

"Really funny Ace" she murmured, looking down at the bench and away from his penetrating blue eyes.

"Well, it's good to see you haven't changed at all" he grinned. That sounded like it was supposed to be an insult, so she glared at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you still can't accept a compliment. I'd be better off telling a brick wall it looked hot," he shrugged and she smiled despite herself. "I meant to talk to you about something," he said thoughtfully and then he seemed to remember and a grimace crossed his face, "I need to know what happened the night you got kicked out." Ivy scowled.

"I don't really wanna talk about it Ace," she said, looking down at the marble bench in front of her.

"Fair enough. But I have to go and explain to a bunch of people why exactly Jack's dead, and it's gonna need to be a pretty good story." He shrugged, "So me goin' in there and sayin' something like 'Rock was bored' ain't really gonna cut it."

"What! No!" she cried indignantly, "It was self defense I swear! He tried to shoot me, and then I grabbed the gun off him and I didn't know what else to do, because he was trying to kill me and I really didn't want to die, and plus he had just told me that he had killed my brother and that Jono who's actually 5 had sent him there in the first place so he could kill me, because he hates me, because it's my fault that he can't walk anymore because of the car crash, so I just shot him because I was scared and there was nothing else I could do and then everyone came over and I was really worried and I looked for you but you weren't there and then you didn't even come and say goodbye and I was so sad, and I missed you so much and I thought I was never going to see you again-" she was getting more and more hysterical with each sentence. She didn't even notice that she wasn't talking about Jack anymore.

"Whoa, Rock, calm down okay?" He sounded slightly shocked, "Are you serious"? She nodded tearfully, sniffing and he stared at her. "About everything you just said? You actually mean it?" She nodded again, less tearfully this time.

"Everything. I missed you so much you wouldn't even believe it. I thought about you every day." She didn't know why she was suddenly pouring her heart out but she couldn't seem to control her mouth, "And it's okay that you don't like me like that, and all the others are really pretty and I'm just me so I totally get if-"

"Rocky, just stop talking for two seconds" he smirked, and the next thing she knew he had leaned over and kissed her forcefully on the lips. She felt every nerve in her body light on fire as his lips touched hers. Her brain seemed to turn to mush and she couldn't think at all. There were a thousand butterflies flapping everywhere around her body. His chair made a soft scraping noise as he stood up and moved closer to her, putting a hand behind her head to tilt her face upwards and deepen the kiss. She hummed contentedly and kissed him back eagerly, her tongue licking lightly along his bottom lip. The sweet smell of his skin and the taste of his lips filled her senses. His hands hooked under her legs and he lifted her up so she was sitting on the bench. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer. The cold marble of the bench top pressed against the back of her legs, making a sharp contrast to the warm hands that were running over her thighs. He pulled back slightly with a smirk so their foreheads were resting together.

"What were you saying about the others?" He muttered huskily, his breathing rough and uneven.

"Nothing." She murmured, moving her lips forward to kiss him again, more hungrily than before. He smirked against her lips and then she felt his tongue dart out to explore the inside of her mouth. His lips moved to her neck and she moaned softly.

"Weren't we meant to be talking about Jack?" She gasped distractedly.

"Yeah," he mumbled against her skin, "yeah, we were." She groaned some more as he sucked gently on her collarbone.

"Mmm, did I mention, that he, tried, to shoot me?" She was almost panting now.

"Yep," he answered, moving back up to her lips and kissing her even harder than before. She twisted her hands into his hair and kissed him back fervently, biting on his lower lip gently. The door opened behind them and there was a shocked exclamation from the door. Ivy went to pull back, but Ace's hand moved to the back of her head, keeping her firmly in place.

"Ahem" someone, 4, laughed. Ivy opened one eye to see her and 10 leaning in the doorway to the room. Ace ignored them completely, clearly completely unperturbed by the fact that two people were standing in the doorway watching them.

"Ace" said 10 pointedly. Ace's hand began to move under Ivy's shirt. She didn't even realize she had reached for the bottom of his shirt until she felt the material in her hands. Then she pulled her hands back quickly. She leaned back from him and smiled at 10 and 4 breathlessly.

"Hey guys," she murmured. Ace was still firmly ignoring them, his lips now working on Ivy's neck again, his hands running up and down her thighs. He hit a particularly sensitive spot and she groaned loudly. Then she blushed slightly, which was an extremely rare occurrence, and swatted him away. Ace moved back with a groan and looked at 10 irritably.

"What?" He snapped

"Ace," 10 was clearly trying not to laugh, "Queen wanted us to find out why you weren't at the meeting".

"Well, now you know, so fuck off." Ace said, leaning back towards Ivy. She pushed him back sternly.

"Go to your meeting." She told him half heartedly. Ace groaned.

"Now look what you've done!" He glared at 10 and 4. Ivy laughed softly and a little breathlessly.

"You can wait five minutes" she murmured, pulling him closer again to rest her forehead against his once more.

"I waited three months already," he groaned. She twisted her fingers around his hair.

"Go, now." She whispered, kissing him with a sense of finality. Ace sighed exasperatedly and walked over to 10 who was looking a little guilty. "Be quick" she added and he smirked, but she could see the hunger in his eyes that gave him away.

"I will" he replied and then turned and walked out the door followed by 4 and then by 10, who winked at her before striding from the room. Ivy jumped down from the bench and leaned against it exhaustedly. She smiled dizzily; there was only one thing she could focus on right then.

Ace had liked her hair.

...

**So, everyone finally got what they wanted. Yay. And never fear, there's a hell of a lot more where that came from.**

**Em, you are the greatest person alive. Even with a freakin Gi-Gan-Tic time difference, you still edited (amazingly) this chapter.**

**I've already practically finished the next one, and you did this one so well, I'm gonna send it to you straight away. I mean if that's cool.**

**I even fixed that little thing about 7 and 9. lol. Even though I didn't have to, I did it for you because I love you and you're great and etc.**

**To all my fab reviewers who I want to write individual notes to, but there were actually quite a few of you ,and I don't want to have the biggest note ever thank you! But to Z00, omg, I was so happy to hear that. I mean not that your computer's broken, but that that was why you couldn't review. i thought I had really pissed you off by accidentally getting you and Ems, names mixed up and I was gonna say sorry again, only I didn't want to rub it in so I just didn't say anything but YAY!**

**Childhood disruption, that sucks. It's not your fault at all though so don't be sorry! Be like stupid fucking site (omg, I tried to write the name of the site but it wouldn't let me!) not showing up my reviews. Or something like that. lol.**

**and everyone else. thanks a bunch for reviews.**

**I lvoe them, even if I've stopped asking for them, I still like them lol.**

**next chapter will be here soon, even though I'm back to school tomorrow.**

**xoxo**

**Bee**


	43. Baseball

**So here it is. Sorry about the wait. This chapter has a lot of... well, 'loving moments' nothing serious but just wanring you, so if you're not into that kind of thing, then you should just skip to the last paragraph. lol. Kay, on with it...**

"You've done what?" Came an outraged yell from in the room which Ivy had been officially banned from, due to the top secret meetings that occurred there. If Ace kept going at that volume however, nothing was going to be very secret anymore. Ivy could hear him over the TV in the downstairs lounge where she had decided to spend her valuable alone time. The meeting had been quite quiet until that stage so Ivy assumed some rather shocking information had just been divulged. She resisted the urge to sneak upstairs and eavesdrop; she had better manners than that. She curled up in a ball on the large squashy leather sofa and watched her show, and no more yelling came from the room.

The sound of footsteps about an hour later could be heard through the ceiling. The meeting must be finished. Ivy sat up and tucked her legs under her as King, Queen, 9, 6 and 1 filed into the room and collapsed onto the empty seats. There were a lot of glances in her direction. 9 was glaring at her steadily and she could tell the other four were trying not to stare. Ace must have told them then. 1 was the one to finally break the silence.

"So... Ivy. You killed Jack, huh?" He asked, trying and failing to sound casual. The interest on his face and in his voice was evident. Ivy didn't really know what to say.

"Um, well, technically yes," she said uncomfortably, ruffling her hair awkwardly.

"Technically?" 9 spat, "You 'technically' killed the best assassin we're ever going to have and you don't even-"

"9, shut up. You didn't even like him" King glared at her.

"Well he was still-"

"If you have a problem, then don't take it up with her, go and talk to Ace," King challenged and she opened her mouth, shut it again and then slumped back against the couch angrily.

"So what actually happened anyway?" 6 asked, curious despite himself. King turned his glare on 6.

"Now you're just being disrespectful," he began but Ivy interrupted him.

"No, no it's okay. You guys really do deserve an explanation. I mean he was your friend and what happened is my fault, so-"

"Ivy really, you don't have to," Queen didn't sound like she really meant what she was saying. Ivy knew she wanted to know as much as everyone else did.

"Honestly Queen. Jack came to the camp a little after me..." Ivy told them all the details she could remember, or at least all the ones she could talk about without wanting to throw up. At the end King's expression was murderous.

"I can't believe he told Ace that I told him to kill some little kid. He's sick. I'm telling you, that boy's lucky you got to him first. I wouldn't have been half as nice as you." He cracked his knuckles as if to emphasise his point and Ivy grimaced at the memory of the man they had captured that night and just exactly what King 'not being half as nice' entailed. Queen rolled her eyes.

"Are you really so surprised? You sure didn't pay much attention if you didn't expect him to pull something like that" she told him disbelievingly. King glared at her.

"Do you always have to comment on every little thing?" He groaned.

"I do, if you keep saying stupid stuff like that," she glared.

"What the fuck is your problem?" He asked angrily, "If this is about-"

"It's not about anything, I'm just sick of you. Why don't you talk to me again when you grow up?" She hissed, standing up and storming out of the room.

"This is fucking ridiculous... You're ridiculous!" He yelled after her, then stood up. "I'm going out," he said huffily. 9 kicked her legs up on the now vacated seat.

"Can I borrow your car tonight?" She asked as he began to walk out the door.

"Yeah, whatever," he answered angrily, then seemed to realise what he had just said, "wait, no. No! If you even think about touching my car, I'll kill you." After that he stormed from the room. 9 smirked.

"Too late, you already said yes," she muttered under her breath. Ivy smiled at what she thought was a joke.

During dinner that night, the conversation was interrupted by 9, who burst through the door wearing all black clothes and twisting a baseball cap between her fingers.

"Who's up for some baseball?" She smirked wickedly. There was a low murmur and 10 was out of his seat right away.

"I'm so in" he grinned gleefully.

"I wish," Ace groaned irritatedly, "I have work to do".

"Baseball?" Ivy asked curiously. She hadn't been aware that gang members played baseball. 9 rolled her eyes and scoffed disapprovingly.

"It's not real baseball Ivy," Queen told her, "that's their immature little name for going round beating up anyone they can find. And it's usually diamonds, hence the name." Ivy stared back blankly.

"I don't get it," she replied. 1 answered her this time, looking up from behind the screen of his laptop which was perched on the dining table in front of him.

"It's a bit of a double entendre. Firstly, there are often baseball bats involved, so the name was obvious. Then of course there's the fact that the diamonds are easy prey. And the bases in baseball are of course sometimes referred to as diamonds, so there you go," he said, adjusting his glasses, as he returned to the computer. Ivy's jaw dropped open.

"You're going to go and hit people with baseball bats? That's horrible," she told them disbelievingly. 9 rolled her eyes again.

"Don't worry princess, we're not going to hit anyone with bats," she sneered, "hands work so much better."

"I'll second that," 10 said, cracking his knuckles, "anyone else coming?"

"I will" 4 screeched excitedly. 9 shook her head almost before she began.

"No way kid, I'm not spending my whole night looking out for you."

"You never let me go," 4 whined, crossing her arms over her chest, but slumping back against her chair acceptingly all the same.

"6?" 9 asked indifferently. He looked at them and shook his head.

"Nah not this time kiddies, I got other shit to do," he muttered.

"You can drive Kings car," 9 told him bluntly.

"You know, I think my schedule just cleared up," he said, suddenly standing up and grabbing both of them, dragging them towards the door.

"Hey, hold on a second" Queen, interrupted their run for the door. "Who said you could use Kings car?"

9 looked around a little uncomfortably. "He did. Before he went out" she lied, a little too quickly.

"So he must have told you that he has spare keys in his bedroom then too right?" Queen asked innocently, with a hint of malice in her voice.

"You know, I think I forgot my shoes," 10 said, "I'm just gonna go and get them." He sprinted out of the room and ran upstairs to go and get the keys. Whatever had happened between King and Queen, it must be pretty serious Ivy realised.

"Come on," 9 muttered, pulling 6 out of the opposite door to the one King had exited through.

"We'll be back later," she told them, before closing the door. Ten seconds later there was a loud roar from the direction of the garage followed by the squeal of tires and then loud cheering.

"I never get to go!" 4 wailed suddenly, standing up and stamping out of the dining room. Queen sighed.

"4, don't be stupid" she yelled, following her out of the room. 3 looked round at the quickly emptying room.

"Well, as great as this family bonding time is," he smirked sarcastically, "I have some work which has to get done." 2 looked around the room and rolled his eyes.

"You know, I'd love to stay too, but I feel like a bit of a third wheel right now. It's killing me, really" with that he stood up and sauntered from the room. Ace smirked at Ivy. She looked back and suddenly felt a little nervous. Where that had come from, she had no idea, but there were definitely butterflies flapping around wildly in her stomach right then.

"So" he said, the smirk staying firmly in place on his face.

"So" she replied, her voice a little higher than normal. The feeling in her stomach was something rather strange, something along the lines of wanting to jump on top of him and screw him senseless. Wait, she did not just think that. She didn't want to do that to him... much. But those insistent urges running through her body now that his eyes were locked on hers were telling her something different, and it was the urges she found herself listening to as she rose in an almost trance-like state and walked to his end of the table.

"We never did get to finish what we started earlier did we?" She smiled wickedly, her nerves being replaced by some kind of intoxicating rush. The delicious scent of him filled her senses as she straddled his waist, his hands finding their way to her hips. Ace's lips began to kiss lightly up and down her neck, sending electric thrills down her spine. She shivered, and his thumb began to stroke the warm skin of her hip under her shirt. Ivy twisted her fingers loosely into the back of his hair and his lips began to move more urgently against her throat.

"I've been thinking about doing this to you all day," he murmured throatily against her skin. She sighed.

"Well now you can," she smiled, tilting his head up and kissing him gently. He kissed her back for a few seconds then pulled back slightly.

"No, I can't," Ace sighed frustratedly, "I really do have work." Ivy pouted.

"Can't it wait?" She asked, batting her eyelashes at him, and then pulled him in closer for another kiss. This seemed to keep him suitably distracted for all of ten seconds, then he pulled away again, laughing a little hoarsely.

"It'll be one hour" he murmured, "I just have to go and talk to some people."

"Stay here" she pleaded, "we can do so much more than just talking," Her hand began to slide down the front of his shirt and inside his jeans. His breath caught in his throat and he grabbed her hand.

"Woah. Shit Rock" he groaned, taking a second to regain his composure before speaking again, "I'll be back quickly okay? But I really gotta go, now." She climbed reluctantly off him and sat down in another chair crossing her arms in an almost childlike fashion. After a final goodbye, he disappeared from the room and moments later Ivy heard another car starting.

She waited in the dining room. And when that got too lonely she moved to the second floor lounge where all the others still in the house were watching a documentary. One by one, people began to traipse off to bed. Four hours later, when it was nearing midnight, Ivy finally gave up waiting and headed for bed.

She pulled on her shorts and tank top, brushed her teeth and then climbed into her bed and fell into a light, dreamless sleep. It was almost two hours later that she awoke again and despite wanting to go back to sleep, found that she wasn't tired any more. Ivy climbed reluctantly out of bed and padded downstairs to the kitchen to get a drink of water. She had grabbed a glass out of the cupboard and was turning the tap on when a loud noise from behind her made her drop the glass, which shattered noisily on the tile floor. Ivy jumped and turned to see a slightly scruffy looking Ace standing in the door behind her.

"Holy shit Ace," she breathed, holding a hand to her heart, "you almost gave me a heart attack." He grinned apologetically.

"Sorry Rock," he shrugged, moving slightly more into the dim light of the kitchen. It was then Ivy saw the nasty looking cut over his left eye.

"Oh my god, what's happened to you?" She asked, rushing over and going up on tip toe to inspect the cut more closely. He grinned and swatted her away good naturedly.

"Nothing, Rocky, I'm fine," he told her nonchalantly.

"You don't look fine," she disagreed, "you're bleeding. Where have you been anyway"?

"What's with all the questions?" he countered.

"I think it's pretty understandable," she answered, pursing her lips icily, "but if you want to be like that..." She turned to go.

"Oh, c'mon Rocky, don't be like that. What happened to finishing where we left off?" He smirked. She was tempted to slap him. Instead she went with a more logical option.

"How bout we play a game?" she asked, walking over to the cupboard and getting another glass. She filled it and took a long drink while Ace surveyed her uncertainly.

"A game?" he asked incredulously. Ivy smirked.

"Sure. It's quite simple. I ask you a question and if you answer, then you get a kiss," he stared at her doubtfully. "They'll be easy. This is just level one," she promised, "something like, what's your favourite colour?" she put the glass down and moved over to sit on the bench in front of where he was standing. He didn't answer.

"Or I could just go..." she said beginning to push herself off the bench. He put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"It's green" he said, still looking suspicious. Ivy smiled at him.

"Good" she murmured, leaning forward and kissing him lightly on the cheek. He looked disappointed.

"Is that it?" he muttered.

"That was only level one. Question two... What's your last name?" she said thoughtfully.

"Hunter" he said quickly. She raised an eyebrow.

"Who's Howard then?" she asked curiously. Ace snorted.

"You saw those guys Rock, how stupid would I have to be to give them my real name?" He murmured and Ivy leaned back in to kiss him lightly on the forehead.

"This game sucks, ask harder questions" he sighed. She giggled.

"Patience. Hm, level three. Where are you from?"

"New York'" he answered quickly, and she smirked as she leaned forward to kiss him lightly on the lips. Her lips tingled strangely as they made contact with his. He began to lean in closer and she pulled back.

"Level four," she murmured, "how did you get out of Green Lake?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I got let out" he grinned and she smirked at him before leaning in to kiss him more intently than before. He made a muffled murmuring kind of noise and his hand moved to the back of her head. She tugged lightly away from him again. He groaned.

"Uh uh," she snickered, "that's level five. How did you get into Green Lake"?

"We stole some stuff. I got caught," he muttered, leaning back in and kissing her before she even got the chance to move. His tongue licked out over her bottom lip and she opened her mouth and kissed him back until her breathing was becoming uneven before pulling away once again. He groaned more exasperatedly than before.

"Quickly," he muttered while she tried to think of a question.

"Where were you tonight?" she panted and he had already grabbed the back of her head as he answered breathlessly.

"The Clubs headquarters" then his mouth was on hers more hungrily than she ever remembered him kissing her and she forgot momentarily about the game. Their tongues meshed together and his hand began to move up inside her shirt. This time she moved back far enough to lean her forehead against his as she gasped for breath.

"Hurry up," he groaned, planting small, desperate kisses along her jaw as she held either side of his face centimetres away from hers.

"I, I can't, think of any," she breathed, trying to focus.

"Shit, go faster" he panted hungrily.

"When's, your, birthday?" She gasped brokenly, and he murmured some inaudible word before kissing her again as he began to pull at her clothes. Ivy heard the sound of buttons clattering across the floor as his shirt tore open under her fingers. Her tank top was pulled roughly over her head in the next few seconds. She lay down on the bench, as he climbed up and on top of her, his body crushing hers between the cool marble bench top and his boiling hot skin. She moaned and pulled his lower body closer into hers, putting her knees up on either side of him.

And with that the door banged open. 9, burst through the door, screaming frantically. Ace was off Ivy like a shot, and over to 9's side, who Ivy quickly realised was completely soaked through with blood. But Ivy couldn't see any wounds on her. And it was then that the words 9 was screaming over and over began to make sense.

"10." she shrieked, grabbing Ace's shoulders and shaking him violently, "10, they shot him, he's dying."

Ace turned to Ivy, "Go upstairs and get Queen," he barked and she was gone, running full speed up to the third floor and banging frantically on Queen's door.

It was Queen who banned Ivy from coming to the hospital. It was too dangerous, she said, as all the others jumped into their cars and Ace told Queen to hurry up. She might get recognized, and then they'd all be in even more trouble. It'd be better, she told her, if she just stayed here. Then Ace leaned out of his car window and began to swear at Queen, until she ran over, climbed into the car and they sped off after 9 and 6.

Ivy walked back dazedly into the house and sat down numbly on the large squashy, black leather sofa. And the waiting began again, only this time, it didn't seem to end. It dragged on and on, right through the long, gloomy night and into the pale early light of the dawn. Ivy didn't see the light changing, or the stars fading or the moon sinking slowly below the horizon as the sun came back up into the sky. For her the dark turmoil in her mind, seemed to suck her down into an endless pit of confusion and emptiness. The worry that twisted her stomach around and around until she felt sick never seemed to fade. And then, as the others began to rise from their beds, the phone rang. It was 6.

"Ivy, go and get the others. I think you better come down here"

...

**That's all. Thanks to Em, who's great and edited this chapter and always reviews and she's great. lol, I'd say Ace rather than great but... in this circumstance that sounds a bit weird.**

**Thanks to Miss Paprella, Iamthewalrus95, Moonwolf27, Insanexkoneko, Childhood-disruption, Phizza, Kaityb, Yoemo-ness and ZOO, who are just great, fab faithful reviewers, and who do it and I don't even have to ask them.**

**If I've forgotten anyone, you have permission to come and kill me, becasue I know I would be so pissed if I was you. ;P**

**I know, there's probably a whole bunch of questions going on right now. I'll sort it out soon.**

**xoxo**

**Bee**


	44. Waiting rooms and 'mistaken' identity

The waiting room smelled like sick people. That sterile, yet still somehow still unwell smell that seemed to haunt the rooms of every hospital around the world. The white walls that were tinted a light shade of black through the lenses of her sunglasses, reminded her far too much of Lakeview. The steady ticking of the large clock on the wall was a constant reminder that she could do nothing but sit here while the seconds passed painstakingly slowly and they waited for some word. He was in critical condition, 6 had told them, but that was when they first got there, and since then, nothing had come. Ace and 4 were somewhere down the other end of the hospital, in the room with 10 while the rest of them sat silently in the waiting room. King arrived later than the others, his eyes bloodshot and his hair scruffy. Ivy saw the expression that crossed 9's face when he arrived; as though she was waiting for him to start screaming, but he never did. Instead he just sat down on one of the chairs as silently as the rest of them and waited.

Different people came and went from the room. The small woman, with the tired eyes and the small baby, who sat and played with some toy cars on the floor of the room. The wizened old man, who was stooped so low that he was almost touching the ground, with a young girl of about thirteen, who held his arm and guided him to a seat. The middle-aged business man, who sat as far from them as he could, and eyed them all suspiciously. The only thing that they all seemed to have in common, was the nervous, dejected, uncertain look they all possessed, as they walked around the room with their heads down. That, and after about an hour or so of waiting, a doctor would arrive for them.

After five hours, Ivy was close to giving up hope.

"I'm going to get coffee" she murmured quietly, standing up and stretching her legs, "does anyone want to come"? She didn't actually want any coffee. She just wanted to get out of the room, which seemed to be growing smaller by the second. To her surprise, 2 stood up.

"I'll come" he answered softly, walking to the door and holding it open for her. She ducked through. They walked in silence, both wanting to, and yet being scared to talk about what they both knew was inevitable. This was the first time Ivy had seen 2 lost for words. It wasn't until a while later, on their way back that he finally spoke.

"He can't die" he murmured. Ivy didn't know what to say, so she said nothing. "We'd fall apart if he died. He's a fucking rock. No one would know what to do without him..." Ivy felt terrible that she had nothing to say, no comforting or wise or helpful words. All she could think of to do was stay silent, for fear of saying the wrong thing. She couldn't even pretend to know what they were going through. She could sense the worry in the room, she felt it herself, but it was nothing compared to what they all must be going through. At first she thought she knew, because of Mac but there was a difference, she realised. With Mac, she had no idea. One moment he was alive, the next he wasn't. But for them, it was simply a waiting game. 10 was their family, and they had to sit there, powerless as they waited to know whether he was alright. It was the feeling of complete helplessness that was filling the room. The anticipation that weighed heavily on their shoulders, pressing down until they could hardly breathe, because they could do nothing but wait.

"I need to smoke something, before I go crazy" 2 said, seemingly unaware of Ivy's inability to answer him. Ivy murmured a goodbye to him and returned to the waiting room, where she held the piping hot coffee cup between her hands and didn't drink a drop. And then, once again, for the longest spell yet, the waiting commenced.

After another length of time which Ivy had lost track of, the door opened, and Ivy prepared herself for the imminent disappointment, that seemed to occur every time the door was opened. But this time, the doorway held a rather welcome face; 4's petite figure was silhouetted in the frame, and Ivy braced herself to hear the bad news that she had been preparing herself for all day. 4 stepped a little further into the room with a small forced smile on her face, which at that moment looked extremely vulnerable.

"How is he?" 3 was on his feet mere seconds after he saw 4.

"He's okay" she answered a little uncomfortably, "He's not doing too well, but the doctors say that he's going to be okay". To Ivy's shock, Queen let out something that was very close to a shriek and hugged King who looked around awkwardly and then patted her on the shoulder. All around the room there were large smiles, happy murmuring and even a few hugs. After the mumbling died down, 4 spoke again.

"Ace says you lot can get lost now" she said and they all stood up to go, "Except for Ivy you need to come with me, and you Kingy; says he wants a word with you". She raised her eyebrows King a little angrily, and beckoned for Ivy to follow her. She led them down a long series of sterile selling hallways, eventually pointing King into a room and then taking Ivy down a few more corridors. The door they stopped outside had a sign that said 'long term patients' written on the door and Ivy raised an eyebrow. 4 turned to face her.

"Before we go in, perhaps I should give you a little background. Did you know that King's been looking for your brother?" Ivy nodded uncertainly, and 4 continued, "Good. Then maybe you won't be too shocked to hear that we think we may have found him". Ivy was surprised that she managed to keep her jaw off the floor. It wasn't until a few seconds later that the realisation of just where they were standing hit her.

"Long term patients?" she babbled, "you found him in the long term patients area? What the hell is wrong with him?" 4 raised a hand to stop her and Ivy took a deep breath trying to steady herself.

"Bear in mind that it might not even be him. Don't get your hopes up too high" 4 warned dubiously.

"If he's in the god damn 'permanent residents section', my hopes aren't that high" Ivy told her, although her heart was hammering 500 times faster than usual in anticipation of seeing her 'dead' brother.

"Are you ready?" 4 asked her and Ivy nodded. 4's small hand reached out and pushed open the door, revealing a large white room full of patients lying completely still on their beds. Ivy followed 4 over to the bed of a boy of about fifteen who had short blonde hair and a serene expression. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw him. He was the spitting image of her brother, but somehow so different. He looked much older, and much less innocent, and there was something else that she couldn't quite describe about him. The one thing that really seemed to stand out to her though was the vivid black club shape that stood out on the white skin of his upper arm. She covered her face and peered out from behind her fingers, hoping that the mark would disappear, but it didn't. Her large green eyes blinked disbelievingly at it, and she began to shake her head.

"No" she murmured, "No it's not him. It can't be him".

"Ivy I don't know if you're being serious right now or if you're in denial" 4 whispered a little uncomfortably biting her lip. Ivy didn't manage to tear her eyes off the tattoo on his arm. This wasn't her little brother. Her perfect, wonderful, amazing little brother who was going places because he actually cared about his life. He wouldn't do something like this, he wasn't that stupid. No this couldn't be him.

"It's not him. It doesn't even look like him" Ivy lied, unsure why exactly she couldn't admit that there was a very good chance that the boy lying in front of her could very possibly be her brother. Wouldn't it be better for her to be there for him even if he was in a rival gang to the boy who she was quite possibly in love with? But this wasn't him. She knew that it wasn't him. Her brother was dead, not lying in a hospital, in a coma, with a club on his arm.

"Are you sure?" 4 asked uncertainly, "He looks exactly like you-"

"It's not him okay" Ivy interrupted her, unexplainably annoyed, "Can we go now?"

"Okay" 4 answered, following Ivy a little timidly from the room. Ivy felt bad then, as they walked out to the car park, where Ace and King were sitting in a car waiting for them. 4 was probably going through a lot right then and having Ivy yell at her probably wasn't helping. But then again, she had just seen a boy who bore an uncanny resemblance to her apparently deceased little brother, so her intense emotions were probably understandable. Perhaps she should just try to forget about the boy, and focus on more important things.

"Hey" 4 said as she climbed into the back seat of the car, eyeing King an Ace a little warily. Neither of them answered and Ivy noticed the firm set of Ace's jaw curiously. What had she just missed exactly?

"Was it him?" Ace asked harshly, not looking away from the road as he began to drive down the road out of the park and onto the main road. 4 exchanged a quick glance with Ivy.

"Nope" Ivy answered indifferently, looking out the window as though it didn't bother her in the slightest.

"Oh" he said, but didn't elaborate at all. Ivy watched the grim looking grey buildings slipping past the window drearily and rested her chin tiredly on her hand. This brief interchange was followed by a long span of silence as Ivy watched the dismal landscape passing by. The quiet was eventually broken by 4.

"So, can we come back tomorrow?" she asked hesitantly.

"Depends" Ace muttered.

"Course you can kiddo, I'll take you" King told her, eyeing Ace a little angrily. 4 didn't say anything about the 'kiddo' comment.

"Not fucking likely" Ace said under his breath, and King gave him his full attention then. Ivy noticed that speed of the car pick up slightly.

"Why not?" King asked, the forced calm in his voice evident.

"'Cause he don't wanna see you" Ace answered, the domineering tone he used was extremely unpleasant.

"He never said that" Ivy saw a muscle in Kings jaw twitching.

"Well, this is just me, but I wouldn't want to see you if you got me shot" Ace shrugged sarcastically, and the car sped up a little more.

"It wasn't my fault" King yelled finally seeming to lose his cool, "Things were already turnin' bad when I got there-"

"Course it was your fucking fault" Ace yelled back, the landscape beginning to whiz by even faster, "You're the one who went saying shit to the others. Why do you always gotta go messin' with shit that ain't got nothin' to do with you?"

"Ace, slow down" Ivy said quietly from in the back. He ignored her.

"They woulda been dead if I hadn't showed up" King hissed.

"Well then didn't you just do a whole lotta good, 'cause they woulda been dead anyway if 9 hadn't of gotten you lot out of there like she did" Ace's knuckles began to turn white as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. The speed of the car was really starting to alarm Ivy now, as one by one, memories of the crash came back to her. The screaming, the crying, the blood, the bodies flashed before her eyes.

"Ace slow down" she repeated, her heart beat speeding up. The speed of the car picked up once again.

"Do you think you're so fuckin' above me kid? 'Cause don't think I won't-"

"You won't what huh King? What are you gonna do?" the car began to slide over the white line that ran down the middle of the road and a picture of the bleeding broken body being carried away on a stretcher was all she could see in her mind.

"Ace slow the fuck down" she screamed, as a car came barrelling at them from the other side of the road and tooted loudly as it drew closer. Ace swore loudly, and hit the brakes, swerving back into the right lane.

"Stop the car" she said angrily, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What? Don't be ridiculous, it was an accident" he rolled his eyes.

"I said stop the fucking car right now, or I'll jump out" she yelled angrily, and he sighed exasperatedly and pulled over.

"Can't you wait another two minutes to act like a two year old, we're almost there" he frowned.

"You almost killed me!" she retorted, turning and stamping off down the side of the road in what she thought was the general direction of the house.

"Rock, get back in the car" he sighed. She ignored him and kept walking. "Seriously" he started the car and began to drive slowly along next to her. King stared irritatedly up at hr from the passenger seat.

"Rocky can you please, please just get in the car?" Ace tried once again.

"No, I won't get in the goddamn car with you if you're going to drive like a maniac. We almost died. What if you had of crashed, and then we would have all been in hospital with 10. You don't even think do you?" she told him stroppily spinning around to face the car.

"Oh for Christ's sake, it's only five minutes. Then you can bitch at me all you want" Ace rolled his eyes at her again.

"You don't get it do you?" she yelled back, unaware of all the eyes that were on her at that moment as the passing cars slowed to watch the show. "Do you even know why I ended up at Green Lake? It's because I stole a car. And then I crashed it and killed some people, so forgive me for not wanting to be in a car with someone who drives like a fucking maniac". With that she turned and stomped off again, ignoring all the stares she was getting.

"Shit" she heard Ace mutter from the car as she got further away, "4, drive home, I'll meet you there".

"I can't drive" 4 replied faintly but Ivy heard the door slam before she finished and then footsteps following her.

"Rock, wait up, I'm sorry" Ace called after her, sounding genuinely repentant. She turned back around to face him and let him catch up to her.

"Well you should be" she answered, and was shocked to find that there were tears falling down her face. She dashed them away angrily and waited for him to answer.

"I am" he told her, and for once his whole gang boss demeanour that he had had going since he got home dropped and she saw the nicer, calmer, more reasonable Ace coming through, "I'm just stressed out and shit. You know how it is. But I'm sorry. And your right, I was being stupid".

"I know you were" she answered and before Ivy really knew what she was doing, she had flung both of her arms around Ace and was hugging him tightly, burying her face in his chest.

"Wow... Um, yeah. Okay then" he said stiffly, and then reached his arms back around her to hug Ivy closer to him.

"You owe me a pretty huge explanation you know" Ivy mumbled into his chest and she felt him nod.

"Yeah, well that's pretty rich coming from you" he answered and Ivy just knew he would be smirking, "I mean, I didn't shoot anyone".

"I explained that already" she told him, pursing her lips slightly and leaning back to look up at him.

"Rocky, I ain't never heard no one talk so fast in my entire life. I still ain't got no idea what you said that night" he chuckled and she looked away sheepishly. He glanced back over to the car and saw King and 4 both watching them intently. She tried to ignore them.

"Whatever" she murmured, looking back at him and smiling, "It can wait". She leaned up on tiptoe and kissed him lightly on the lips. His hand seemed to shoot automatically to the back of her head and he pulled her in a little closer. This boy didn't quite seem to get the concept of a peck. Her heart rate sped up, and of its own accord his tongue seemed to lick out along her lip. She pulled back slightly with a small smile, resting her forehead against his.

"You really gotta stop doing that" he muttered.

"Doing what?" she asked innocently, "Kissing you?"

"You're driving me fucking crazy chick. Do you have any idea how much I wanna-"

"For fucks sake you two" 4 yelled from the car, "as touching as this is, hurry it up aye? We got places to be"

"Where the fuck do you have to be?" Ace asked her disbelievingly.

"Home" she answered, leaning over to the front seat and tooting the horn of the car loudly, "Now get a move on". Ace grudgingly wrapped an arm around Ivy's shoulders and led her back over to the car.

"Didn't I tell you to go home without us?" he asked, as he climbed back into the driver's seat and began the short drive home at a much slower speed.

"I can't drive genius, I'm fourteen" 4 replied rolling her eyes.

"Oh c'mon" he answered, "it's ain't like there's any cops around here". Ivy raised her eyebrows, resisting the urge to reprimand Ace for telling a fourteen year old kid to drive an extremely expensive looking car on a busy street.

After a few minutes they arrived at the house, and went inside to find a rather interesting surprise waiting for them.

"Ace. It's good to see you, we heard you were back while we were away, but you know business like that can't wait. Otherwise we would have come back to see you" 8 stood up as Ace entered the room. 7 was surprisingly absent and Ivy wondered if Ace's slightly furtive glances around the room were in search of her, "How's 10 doing"?

"He's fine" Ace answered, turning around to glance at King a little threateningly.

"Good, that's good. In that case" 8 began, "We have someone for you all to meet". The door to the lounge opened to reveal a tall blonde boy with the most amazing violet eyes Ivy had ever seen. He smiled at them all and raised a hand in greeting. Ace eyed him warily.

"Who's this then?" he asked a little confrontationally.

"This is Vincent Wallace. But you can call him 5".

...

**So! Guess who's back, back, back. Back again.**

**Bee's back!**

**lol**

**There isn't a lot to say**

**except sorry x infinty. I took suuuuuuuuuch a long time to update. It was sucky of me.**

**I didn't even warn you guys. I'd tell you some great excuse, only I don't really have one. I was just busy. Which is a stupid reason. but it's okay because I'm back now! For good. **

**So I hope you like this chapter, and all i can do is tell you that the next chapter only has about 40 more words to write and it's really long and interesting and will be cool to read.**

**love y'all loads and loads and thanks for not giving up on me for the two weeks that I wasn't writing lol.**

**xx**

**oo**

**Bee**

**ps. is anyone doing that national novel writing thing? My awesome editor told me about it and now I've signed up and am super excited to write a book! Don't worry though I won't forget about Ivy.**

**pps. TI turned on the TV tonight and survivor came on and it was some girl talking to the camera you know how they do, and she's like "it's basically just Ace's way or the highway" and I was like :O:O:O "say what?" only not. lol. but it was just funny.**


	45. A heart felt conversation

"I can do what now?" Ace asked coldly, looking at 8 disbelievingly as though he wasn't sure if he had heard him right. 8 looked back, a little uncertainly.

"He's here to replace 5."

"No he's not," Ace eyed the boy critically; "You had best be kidding me with this. Look at him, he's pathetic". Ivy turned to look at Ace doubtfully, unsure whether they were seeing the same person. The boy in front of them had a good few inches on Ace, with huge muscles that were actually stretching the sleeves of his shirt.

Ace moved closer to the boy, walking around him in a slow circle, sizing him up. "Oh, I get it. Some little city boy wants to be in the big time right? You think you're pretty tough kid?" he smirked. The boy didn't say anything, just stared blankly at the wall in front of him.

"What the fuck makes you think that we would want someone like you?" Ace asked him coldly, and the boy continued to ignore him.

"You don't talk much do you? How do you think we should get him to talk Kingy?" Ace smirked evilly at King, apparently forgetting about their argument at the possibility of tormenting someone else. King cracked his knuckles suggestively.

"I can think of a few ways" he raised his eyebrows and from somewhere in his jacket, he produced a shiny silver gun, which he tossed to Ace. Ace's smirk grew bigger and he lifted the gun up to the back of the boys head, moving it round as though he were admiring the way the light reflected off it.

"So, tell me boy, are you scared?" he asked indifferently, and Ivy watched the boy's jaw tighten ever so slightly as he shook his head. Ace raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Then tell me..." in a flash he had moved forward and had the gun pressed into the boys throat, while his other hand had twisted roughly into his hair and was yanking his head backwards to expose his throat more, "Are you scared now"? The boy responded once more with a slightly more awkward shake of his head.

"You heart's sure going pretty fast for someone who's not scared" Ace mused, "so something else must be going on in your head. What's on your mind kid"? The boy gave a small smile, and then spoke for the first time that day.

"I was just thinking that if you're the Ace of spades, you aren't half as bloody impressive as I thought you would be" he smirked in a strong Australian, and Ivy felt her jaw fall open involuntarily. There was an intense, edgy silence as everyone waited to see what Ace was going to do. Ivy wasn't sure whether she was nervous or excited or both, but she knew that she was shocked. What kind of suicidal maniac went round saying things like that to the head of some weird, crazy gang? She saw Ace's jaw tense a little dangerously, and she was about to take a step forward to stop him from shooting the boy, when he did the very last thing she had expected. Ace chuckled and shook his head lowering the gun away from the boy.

"Rock, go upstairs will you?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the boy.

"Why?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"'Cause I asked you to" he retorted, looking up at her.

"What are you going to do to him?"

"Rocky for Christ's sake, just do it"

"But-"

"4, take her upstairs" he glared at Ivy as 4 guided her slowly from the room. Ivy glared at her and yanked her arm out of her grip, turning and flouncing stroppily through the door and up the stairs. She flopped down on her bed and crossed her arms sulkily over her chest. She hated living here at times like this, when she felt so excluded from everything. She hated the way they kicked her out of rooms whenever something important was about to happen, or the way they glanced at her when a slightly touchy subject came up. She didn't understand why they didn't trust her; it wasn't like she hadn't proved that she was worth it. God, she had almost been killed for them. Well, them and her brother but still, if she hadn't of gone, they would of been screwed. But for some reason 9, 2, 8 and quite possibly King still hated her. And now 10, one of the only people in the house who was actually nice to her, was in the hospital. Ivy missed her house, with her parents who as far as she had worked out, thought she was some sort of failure because she didn't have big plans like her brother, but who had loved her all along. If only it hadn't taken her this long to realise it she could still be with them, rather than in a crazy scary secretive gang hideout with Ace, who was treating her like a four year old. At least back at home people had trusted her. Here she was some sneaky outsider who wasn't to be trusted. She was sick of it.

Maybe she should just go; get out before she went crazy. She really couldn't take this much longer... And no one was even paying attention to her; they were all focused on the 10 drama. If she was just quiet, Ivy could get out of here right now. That would really teach Ace for trying to tell her what to do. She wondered what he would do when he came up the stairs and found her missing. Would he be angry, or panicked, or maybe even sad? No, not sad. He would never be sad about anything, not even her. But then what reason would he have to be sad about her? As far as she could tell, to him she was just some conquest that he wanted to make. So this served him right. She would go home, or at least away from here. She was sure it wouldn't be too hard to find someone to take her to Hollywood. There must be a few nice people around this place.

Ivy tiptoed over to the chest of drawers, which she realised she had yet to look inside, and opened it. Inside, there were neatly folded clothes that must have belonged to a boy. She pulled out one of the sweaters and held it up against herself. It was too big, but only a little bit. The truly strange thing about it was the familiar smell that was all over it. A nice, musky sort of scent that took her back to... Well, she couldn't exactly remember it was, but it was definitely hot there. Hot and sandy. That was when it clicked. Right at the same time as a voice spoke from behind her.

"Rocky? What the fuck are you doing in here?" Ace asked, as Ivy's stomach began to churn. She must be wrong, she had to be wrong.

"I sleep here?" she murmured, extremely softly, biting her lips nervously as she prayed that Ace wasn't about to tell her the one thing that she really didn't want to hear right then. All her previous problems with him were completely forgotten as the worry inside her grew steadily until she felt like she was going to faint. The horrified look that appeared on Ace's face was brief, and was replaced quickly by an indifferent expression, but it was too late. Her head was spinning and she felt bile rising up her throat.

"I'm gonna be sick" Ivy muttered, putting one hand over her mouth and pushing past him to the bathroom. It was _his_ room. How could she ever have liked the disgusting smell of that evil, twisted, sick killer? How did she not realise? The knives everywhere, even the fact that it was empty should have been enough to tell her that it was Jack's old bedroom. How did she ever feel safe in there? That was the vilest place in the whole world.

There was loud knocking on the door as Ivy began to wretch over the toilet. Her body shook as her stomach tried to bring up food that wasn't there.

"Rocky? Rocky, open the door, fuck" she heard Ace's voice but was a bit past paying attention. She leaned away from the toilet as her gagging subsided and brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around herself. She couldn't explain why she suddenly felt so unsafe in the house. It wasn't as though it was any different from before, except that now she knew that her room wasn't hers at all, because it was his. The room where she had slept and cried and thought and hid was Jack's room. The one thing she had had that was actually hers had turned out to be the one thing that she wanted least in the whole world. How could they have let her sleep there? They must have known, she realised, if not at first then when Ace got back. He had told them what had happened to Jack, they knew the story, so why didn't they say anything? Queen, and 4 and 10 and King, they all had the chance to move her out of the room but they had let her stay there.

"Did you know?" Ivy heard her voice even before she knew that she was speaking.

"What?" he answered perplexedly.

"You knew!" she stood up and walked over, unlocking the door to the bathroom and glaring at him. His eyebrows rose so high they were covered by his hair.

"_What?!_" he practically yelled, "No I didn't!"

"How did you not know when they tell you everything?" she hissed angrily.

"What the fuck are you on about?" he shook his head in disbelief. "You think they told me where you were sleeping? Why would I know that? What kind of creepy stalker do you think I am?"

"Stop lying to me!" Ivy was basically screaming now, and 9's head popped out from her room to glare at them. When she saw the deadly look that Ivy shot her, however, she pulled a face and closed her door again.

"I'm not lying to you. Why the fuck would I want you anywhere near where that psycho's been?" he yelled frustratedly, running an aggravated hand through his hair.

"Because you don't care!" she retorted, pushing past him to walk back to the room. She began to grab the clothes that 7 and Queen had given her off the floor and stuff them into a bag as she continued yelling. "All you want to do is have sex with me. You think that I'm just some stupid girl who wants you so bad just because you're you, but you're wrong Ace, because I don't like you! You're annoying and stupid and frustrating and selfish and egotistical and just, just... ah!" she stamped her foot and turned to push past him.

"You're something else aren't you chick?" he followed after her as she stormed down the hall towards the stairs. "You think you're so much fucking better than everyone else just 'cause you were rich before you went and fucked that up for yourself, 'cause that's what you do with everything. You don't know shit about real life, and you think just 'cause you're some big rich kid rebel who stole a car one time that means you know what it's like for us? You ain't got no idea what shit we've gone through. You think life's pretty tough right, 'cause your little brother might be dead, and your parents won't talk to you? Did you know that all of 9's family got killed in front of her, except for her dad, because he was the one doing it? Or that 4's parents got shot when she was 10? Do you still think you're something special now?"

"What, so I'm not as good as you, because my dad wasn't an alcoholic and my mom was never a stripper? Sorry if I'm not white trash like 9, but if you like her so fucking much then why don't you just go and marry her and then you two can have gang member little babies that can't do anything except shoot people and tattoo themselves"

"Maybe I will, since she ain't as fucking confusing as you" he answered aggravatedly. "One minute you're fucking gagging for it, and the next you won't even talk to me. You're out of your fucking mind if you think that _I'm_ the one who just wants to have sex with _you_. You're the one who was all over me at Green Lake. I ain't the one who-"

"Ah, oh my god just _GO AWAY_" Ivy screeched as she reached the front door, turning around to face him so she could yell at him more clearly "I hate you Do you understand me? I- hate- you! You think you're Don fucking Corleone, but really you're just a stupid little boy, who needs to grow the fuck up!"

With that Ivy turned and stamped through the door, slamming it loudly behind her. She could still hear Ace's voice through the wood. "Fucking psycho whore" then the sound of something breaking. She was sorely tempted to turn around and go back to continue their argument, but she stopped herself; she was above that, she could be the mature one in this situation... Even if right now she wanted to rip his head off.

Ivy walked for a few blocks, before she started to get too cold and stopped to pull on something warmer from the bag. Her teeth were chattering slightly as she wrapped her arms around herself in her newly found sweater. She picked the bag back up and kept walking, although she wasn't exactly sure where she was going, and it was getting extremely dark, extremely fast. Was it really safe for a girl that looked like her to be walking around these streets at night? She could get mugged, or raped, or killed. But if she did, at least it would be Ace's fault... Not that that would change the fact that she was dead. Maybe she should go back, and wait until the morning. But she couldn't give him that satisfaction. That was exactly what Ace wanted her to do. She could go to a hotel or something, Ivy decided, and began to walk a little more quickly in the direction of the main city.

The streetlights were flickering dimly on and off as Ivy turned down a deserted street that she thought would take her closer to her destination. To be honest, she wasn't exactly sure where she was going, but she was sure that if she walked long enough, she would get there. Ivy hugged her arms a little tighter around her body, and moved as far away as she could get from the dark shadows that the dingy factories and warehouses were casting along the footpath. She jumped and turned to look over her shoulder as the sound of footsteps came around the corner behind her. Her eyes darted nervously up and down the street, but there was no one there. A small movement in the shadows made her quicken her pace slightly more, although there was no more sound behind her. The small dim stars that were glinting over her head did nothing to lighten the dark, grimy street. Ivy was almost half way down it now, and the speed she was walking at, it wouldn't be too long before she was back in the lighted road at the far end. But suddenly the noises behind her stated again; a low scuffling sort of noise came from behind her, and all of a sudden her mind was filled with images of the dirty old men they were always showing on the news, and all those horrible stories about girls her age being killed and raped and beaten up on the streets at night. This was a bad idea. A very, very, very bad idea. She should have stayed at home with Ace. He was always around when she didn't want him, but where was he now, when she actually needed him to be there? The noise quickened, and she shot another glance over her shoulder, walking even faster as she caught sight of another flash of colour in the shadows. She bit back a scream that was building inside her and found that she was practically running by then.

The lights were approaching fast, but the sounds behind her were speeding up as well. She turned to look once more and to her terror saw a man with scraggly brown hair and weathered skin emerging from the shadows beside her. She froze dead in her tracks, somehow unable to keep moving even though everything inside her was screaming at her to do just that. Her eyes grew large as they followed his slow movements towards her. Her heartbeat had sped up to a phenomenal pace, and her breathing was short and shallow. Was this it? Was she about to die, right here in this cold, dark, lonely street? Why wasn't she running, or screaming, or doing anything? The man leered at her and suddenly from behind him, she saw more people emerging. One by one, shadowy figures glided from the darkness, their eyes seeming to glow through the blackness that they were materializing out of. She watched as they drew closer to her, forming a circle. There were six of them in all, and they seemed to be led by the old man. She couldn't seem to will her body to move, and even if she could have, by then it was too late. The shapeless people were moving in around her and she felt her stomach churning violently. She was honestly about to die.

"Please" she heard herself begging before she even knew that she had regained control over any part of her body, "Please, don't kill me"? The figures exchanged glances and the man, much to her surprise, let out a rasping chuckle.

"Maybe if you stay still, we'll think about it" he answered in a quiet, hoarse voice, holding up a hand to still the people's movement forward.

"Who are you?" she murmured, looking around her in the circle to try and catch sight of any of the others faces. They were mostly obscured by caps or hoods that were pulled low over their faces, and Ivy felt her fear increase even more when she decided they were probably some gang of rapists or something.

"How 'bout you let me ask the question Honey?" the man answered in his hoarse whisper and there were a few small murmurs from around the circle.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked nervously, managing to ignore him completely.

"That depends" he answered, eyeing her sickeningly, "see, a lot of people have been talking about you. Thought I'd get my own opinion. And your little fight was just the opportunity that we were waiting for. But I didn't realise that you were so... well" his eyes raked up and down her body once more, and her fear was almost consumed by the disgust that welled up inside her.

"The kid has better taste than I thought" came another voice from in the circle, but the speaking was over before Ivy had a chance to see who it came from.

"Please, if you just let me go-" Ivy began to plead again, but was interrupted by the man holding up a hand to silence her.

"You look like quite an intelligent girl" he shrugged, "So let's do some role playing. Say, hypothetically, you had spent the last few weeks waiting for this opportunity, to meet this girl that you had heard some rather interesting things about, and finally you get the chance. You have her alone... in a dark street, with no one around you... no one to hear what's happening, the kind of place where _anything_ could happen... Would you let her go..? Well, you know, actually, it doesn't really matter, because it's not your choice, it's mine. And I'm keeping her".

The fear began to churn in her stomach once more, and she considered throwing up.

"How do you know who I am?" she asked, wanting to back away from him, but not wanting to move any closer to the other people in the circle.

"Quite inquisitive aren't you?" he murmured huskily, taking a step closer to her and lifting up a hand to stroke her cheek. Her whole body went cold and she jerked away from him instinctively, reaching up a hand to her face and brushing off any trace of him on her skin. "Feisty too. I like that in a woman" he chuckled in his strangely gruff voice.

"Listen, I don't know who you are but if you do anything to me then people who will totally come after you" she lied, trying and failing completely to sound confident. It was only after she had spoken that she realised how much she sounded like a twelve year old girl. The man chuckled his deep, throaty chuckle once more.

"I don't doubt that he would. The question is whether or not we're scared of him, and that would be a no, so don't bother trying your threats on us" he answered and there were some murmurs of agreement from around the circle. Ivy didn't bother to ask how he knew who she was talking about; it didn't really surprise her. "There is, however, a little something you can do for us to maybe help us decided what to do with you".

"Anything, please just don't kill me" well, the tough approach hadn't lasted long had it?

"We heard through the grapevine that you're friends with a little someone that we want to get a message to. Our darling little Ace of spades" the man croaked, and eyed her for a few seconds before speaking again. "Tell him he's not playing with the kids anymore and that if any of his boys touches mine again, I'll make sure that every last one of them wishes they were never born. Tell him that if he wants to fuck with fire, then he's gonna get burned".

With that, some of the figures behind her began to melt back into the shadows, until only her, the man and two others were standing on the darkened street. "Who are you?" she repeated, her voice a little less petrified now that there were less of them.

"We my dear, are the hearts. It's really a pity that you haven't heard of us" he exchanged a quick glance with the other people who Ivy suddenly realised were both girls and suddenly her sense of foreboding returned twenty times stronger. "But how about we give you something to remember us by?"

"Wait, wait, please" she tried, but the man just raised his hands in a helpless gesture and disappeared into the shadows. She watched in horror as the two girls advanced on her, unable to run once again and losing the ability to scream as well. The closest one grabbed her by the collar of her sweater and Ivy felt a hand connect with her cheek bone. Then she felt the screaming ability return to her, as she was thrown to the ground and kicked repeatedly. She was beginning to grow accustomed to the pain when they suddenly stopped and instead of the sound of her screams, the air was filled with the sound of a car speeding down the road. She opened her eyes slowly, to see that the girls had disappeared, probably disappearing back into the shadows that they came from, and there was a sleek black car speeding down the road towards her.

She felt relief wash over her aching body; she knew that car, it was Ace's car. She was safe again. She tried to drag herself to her feet and felt a sharp pain down her side. She clutched it and settled for sitting up as the car pulled up beside her. She waited for Ace to jump out, and come running to her, apologising and telling her how stupid and thoughtless and wrong he had been. Well, okay maybe that was hoping for a bit much, but he would apologise at least. After all, she wasn't half in a bad state right then, with blood trickling down her cheek and some serious bruises forming on her sides.

But much to her surprise when the door opened, it revealed not Ace at all, but the new Australian boy from earlier. She felt her heart plummet when she saw him, and tried to keep the scowl off her face; at least it was someone.

"Holy hell" he muttered when he saw her sitting on the path. He opened his own door and was over by her side in a flash, helping her cautiously to her feet. His eyes ran nervously over her body, seeming to search for any obvious injuries, and she hoped that there weren't any; he had arrived quite early in the beating she thought. He didn't say anything to her as he half dragged; half carried her over to the car.

"What are you doing here?" she asked stiffly, not bothering to thank him for being there.

"Looking for you" he answered, helping her through the open passenger seat door of the car.

"Why isn't Ace here?"

"He's busy" the young man answered, eyeing her with a look that said he would really rather she stopped talking. She ignored it.

"Why are you driving Ace's car?" she inquired coldly.

"Because he told me to" he shrugged.

"Do you always do what people tell you to do?"

"Are you always this rude?" he countered.

"I'm not being rude, I'm being pissed off" she snapped back, wiping the blood that was starting to dry on her cheek.

"Yeah well I'm only doing what he told me to: help you out, and I'm starting to regret that" he muttered, looking away from her and out into the blackness ahead of them as he drove of down the dark road. There was a long silence, during which Ivy stared angrily out into the black shadows that were slipping past the car. Finally, once she had begun to calm down, and the pain had started to grow worse, she relented.

"Okay, I'm sorry" she muttered a little begrudgingly, "You were trying to help me out and I was rude to you and I'm sorry".

"Don't mention it" he shrugged, "I think getting smashed up by two huge chicks is punishment enough".

"So, um, I don't think I caught your name?" she said trying to sound polite, and resisting the urge to groan.

"Vinnie, except that, technically, it's Vincent Wallace, and possibly might be 5 now, so I suppose you can take your pick" he smirked. Now that she was listening, she suddenly noticed just how nice his accent was; not too strong, but definitely there. She had always liked Australian accents.

"Vinnie sounds good" she smiled, biting her lip a little shyly, when she looked over at him and realised just how good looking he actually was. He was no Ace, but then again, he wasn't an asshole like certain other people, so he definitely wasn't doing too badly in her books at that moment.

"You know, I just realised, that I never found out who you were either" he told her as he turned a corner and she found herself back on a familiar street.

"I'm Ivy. Ivy Stallone" she told him, starting to extend her hand, then realising that he was driving and running it through her hair instead. She wondered if it had grown back at all. How strange would it look to have blonde roots with black hair?

"You're not one of them?" he asked curiously, "You look like a Queen or something".

"Oh, ha ha, no. I'm just a friend" she shrugged as though that explained everything. He raised his eyebrows slightly but shrugged it off.

"Well then it's nice to meet you Ivy Stallone" he grinned, and she saw the house up ahead of them. "So" he began in an intrigued tone, "Are you really going out with the Ace of spades"? If Ivy had of been drinking anything, she would have spat it out right there and then.

"No!" she cried indignantly before she could stop herself, "I mean _no_. Most definitely not. Me and Ace's relationship is, well, complicated".

"But you're not together?" he asked, obviously curious, "I mean, the way you two argue, it's like-"

"Trust me, he's an asshole. I'm so not interested" she told him, completely unsure whether or not she was lying. On the one hand, he was an asshole, who she wasn't speaking to, and who was really annoying her right then. On the other hand, she doubted that 'not interested' would be the best way of describing how she felt about Ace at that moment.

"Okay then" he shrugged with a small grin, as he pulled into the garage, "So does that mean you're single?"

"Um, sure, I guess I am" she answered, not certain of whether or not she was getting in a little bit too deep with this conversation. Just because her and Ace weren't an official couple, did it mean that she could go round telling other guys that she was single? Oh well; he was being mean anyway. And what was a better way of getting back at him than making him jealous.

"And what about yourself? I bet you have some gorgeous super model girlfriend waiting for you back in Australia?" She asked with a grin, trying to keep her tone as platonic as she could. He shook his head indifferently.

"Nah, nothing waiting for me back there. Especially no girlfriend. That's why I'm here. I saw Jessica Alba and thought if all you American chicks looked like her, then I had to come here" he smirked and Ivy smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"I suppose you must have been a little disappointed when you got here then?" she asked. He looked at her and winked, in a surprisingly non sleazy way.

"At first. But tonight I met this girl who doesn't seem half bad" he told her, and she bit her lip a little shyly, looking down at her nails, before looking back up at him.

"Lucky you" she answered, looking into his eyes. They were really the most amazing colour she had ever seen; a dark blue that looked almost purple in some light.

"Or lucky her" he smirked and she chuckled, reaching over to open her door.

"We'll see about that" she murmured, climbing out of the car and walking over to the door to the house. She waited for him to catch up before sighing and opening the door to let a flood of bright light spill out over the two of them. She took a deep breath and braced herself for the fight that she knew was about to ensue.

...

**Thanks to my new reviewer rainonthesidewalk! and all that good grammar etc. is niothing to do with my skills, it's thanks to Em, who reads thorugh all my work for me and is woncderful, but thanks for reviewing, I just lvoe new reviewers.**

**I have to go, but I hope you all enjoyed!**

**xx**

**Bee**


	46. Drinking drugs and dealer doctors

**Sorry. x one million billion trillion thousand etc. I can't say it enough. You guys must hate me. I would hate me. I've been busy and that's why I haven't updated. Which is a shit excuse I know, but it's true I swear. I even took the day off school and stayed up until 12 o'clock tonight even though I have the biggest rowing regatta of the year tomorrow because I felt so bad about not updating. I hope you like it, sorry if you don't. I'll have the next one up in about four- five days, because I'm going away.**

**sorry again. You all have permission to kill me or whatever you want to do. Sorry.**

**On a happier note, I don;t love this chapter, it's not that great, but I've tried to make it good to make up for the whole month without one. Please review even though you want to shoot me. And remember new reviewers are always welcome. I was aiming for 11 reviews this chapter. that owuld be great if you guys want to review? Please? Pretty Please?**

**xx**

She waited for someone to come down the hall, running towards her in delight after the sound of the door shutting. Someone to shout out her name and tell her how happy they were that she wasn't dead. Someone to peak out of a door and then hug her and tell her they had been so worried about her. Even Ace or King to start yelling at her because she was an idiot who had run away. But there was nothing. No running, no screaming, no hugging, no nothing, just the sound of a TV and people talking in the lounge. She waited a little longer, and a vaguely annoyed look appeared on her face. She walked down the hallway with Vinnie following her, a slightly bemused look on his face at her sudden change of attitude. She tried to ignore the shooting pain that ran through her stomach as she moved.

She walked through the open door to the lounge and found it completely empty, with the TV flickering brightly with some show about fish. She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms a little huffily over her chest. Where was her dramatic welcome, where everyone proclaimed their love for her and welcomed her back with open arms? She heard a banging noise from upstairs, and they made their way up to where the noise was coming from. After following the sound to the third floor, Ivy found herself standing outside one of the many rooms she still had yet to enter. There were voices coming from inside; loud male voices. She pushed the door open to find 2, King, 6, 3 and Ace sitting around on long couches. They were all laughing raucously at something, and it took most of them a few seconds to realise that Ivy had even opened the door. Empty bottles covered the floor almost completely and as well as the sickly sweet smell Ivy recognised as marijuana, there were specks of a familiar white powder left on the wooden coffee table. As she stood completely appalled in the doorway with a bemused Vinnie behind her, Ace, who at that moment was smoking something and laughing along with the others, threw a now empty beer bottle on top of the pile in the middle where it clinked loudly but didn't break.

"Hey Iv..." King grinned, raising his bottle in a sort of welcoming gesture. "Where have you been"? Ivy blinked at him disbelievingly, the pain in her stomach forgotten completely by the sight that met her eyes. When Ace seemed to have processed what he just heard, he turned around to look at her. He didn't look embarrassed or ashamed or anything that he should have been feeling. Honestly, he just looked completely out of it.

"Babe, I thought you weren't coming back" he gave a weird sort of half smile. He never called her babe. His words were slightly slurred and it sounded like he had had to force them out of his mouth.

"Clearly" she answered coldly, only barely resisting the urge to kill him right then, "What do you think you're doing exactly?"

His grin didn't falter at her words, which only made her scowl more.

"Ooooh" murmured 6. "Someone's in trouble". The others all burst out laughing and Ace's stupid drunk grin grew bigger. There was a loud crash as King's laughter got so out of control that he fell off his chair and crashed to the ground in a heap, which only started the others laughing more. Ace suddenly disappeared from the couch as he began to laugh at King only to roll off his couch as well. In doing so he dropped the still glowing joint on the couch. Ivy swore and marched over, picking it up and chucking it on the ground to stamp it out. She did her best to ignore the intense pain the shot through her ribs as soon as she moved.

"Hey!" 2 whined, "You could have given that to me-"

"Hey, wait. What happened to your-" 6 began, pointing to the black eye and bloody cut on her cheek.

"Shut up 6" Ivy snapped, glaring at him, then turning her eyes angrily to Ace.

"I leave for one goddamn hour, and you're already getting high with these idiots- sorry 3, not you" she added and he shrugged, taking a swig of his beer bottle.

"All good, don't let me interrupt you" he muttered.

"You stress too easy; I ain't done nothing" Ace answered her lazily, propping himself up on one elbow.

"Too bloody right you haven't. This is ridiculous, I don't even want to talk to you right now" she groaned, turning on her heel and stalking dignifiedly from the room. Vinnie was gone from the door, probably a bit scared at how angry she was getting. At least one man in this house had a brain. As she was leaving she heard snickering from behind her and Ace muttering.

"Good, I ain't going after her anyway, she can do whatever the fuck she-" When she heard his voice, something inside her seemed to snap. She turned around, stamping back into the room, her ribs sending sharp shooting pains through her that made small black dots swim in her vision. He leant away from her and raised his hands as if to protect himself from her.

"I can still fucking hear you, Ace you asshole" she yelled furiously, her vision blurring, but whether it was because of pain or anger she was unsure. "How fucking dare you talk about me like that, you don't have any respect do you? You're just a selfish, immature, pathetic little boy who needs to grow up. I come back here to talk to you, and you're up here getting drunk and smoking shit and doing god knows what else. Did you even know that I was gone? Did you even fucking worry for one second? No, of course you didn't because you're the great fucking Ace of Spades. You're just too _cool_ to worry about little old me right? Well don't fucking bother anymore, because I'm done. I'm done with this house and I'm done with your fucking gang, and I am definitely done with _you_. I'm leaving and I'm not coming back this time. This whole bullshit excuse for a relationship is over, and not a minute too soon either". With that she turned once more and stamped from the room, the pain so strong now that her vision was literally swimming and she couldn't see where she was going. She staggered slightly and braced herself against the wall before she kept going. As she rounded the corner, she felt her legs give out from under her, as her vision blacked out completely and next thing she knew there was nothing, because she was lying on the floor completely unconscious.

...

She woke to the sound of voices chattering near her head. She was so tired, and the dull pain in her upper body was growing stronger every second she was conscious. The voices around her were making her head hurt. After a few seconds, she could make out what they were saying.

"We can't take her to the hospital you idiot" it was a girl but she didn't recognise the voice.

"Why the hell not?" this one was male, and it took her a few seconds to identify it as Vinnie.

"Because she's been all over the news. They'd recognise her in an instant. I'm surprised you don't know who she is" the girl from before, who Ivy realised was 9, snapped exasperatedly.

"Why is she on the news?" That was Vinnie again.

"Wait, why could we take her there to see 10, but not to get fixed up when she actually needs it?" this new voice was high pitched and sharp sounding; 4.

"Because you don't need a name to visit someone in hospital and I can't be bothered all the shit we'd have to go through to get her in. We'll just call Ricky or something, it's not a big deal" 9 replied as though it was the most obvious thing. Ivy felt a sudden stab of pain in the left side of her abdomen and she opened her eyes with a groan.

She was lying on a bed, in a bright room which she didn't recognise. Faces slowly came into focus over her bed, blinking down at her worriedly. Well, most of them were at least. When 9's face came into view, she didn't exactly look too concerned... Agitated probably would have been a better word.

"Oh, good you're awake" she said brusquely. "Tell us what happened, and 4, you go and call Ricky. Tell him we need some help with something right away". 4 darted off after giving Ivy a reassuring grin. 9 looked at her expectantly.

"Well? We can't help if we don't know what happened, so hurry up" she repeated, sitting down in a chair by the bed and lacing her fingers under her chin.

"I don't really remember" she admitted honestly, trying to think back to earlier that night. Then it all came flooding back with alarming clarity. "There were some people, when I left earlier. They were waiting on the street. For me, he said-"

"Who's he?" 9 interrupted sharply.

"I'm not sure. I think he's the Ace of Hearts. He definitely had something to do with the hearts" she shrugged then winced. Whatever those girls had done to her ribs, it was something pretty serious, a fracture at the very least. Whatever it was, it sure as hell hurt worse than anything she had ever felt before. She really had taken walking for granted up until now.

"Ace of hearts? Was he blonde, late twenties, really good looking, but a complete asshole?" 9 asked, her voice taking on a bitter note at the end. Ivy raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.

"I don't know it was dark. But he sure didn't talk like someone in his late twenties, he sounded about 50. And he didn't sound too hot either, but I couldn't really see his face" she explained. "He said they were the hearts though, definitely. Right before they attacked me".

"They _attacked_ you? What all of them?" 9 asked a little disbelievingly. "Why? How did they even know who you were?"

"It was because of all of you. They think you're after them or something. He said all this stuff about keeping our hands off his boys and stuff. No idea what he was on about. And I can't really remember how he knew who I was. He probably said something about it, but I stopped paying attention after he threatened to kill me". She sniffed a little disdainfully at the last part and 9 snorted. Vinnie took a seat next to 9 just as 4 came running back into the room, her heavy boots clunking loudly on the wooden floor. She plonked herself down on the end of the bed and beamed.

"He's on his way over now even though it's after two in the morning" 4 grinned and then added with a sly smirk. "He says he can't wait to see you 9". With that she burst out laughing and 9 scowled.

"Why do I feel like I missed something here?" Vinnie asked, and Ivy raised her eyebrows slightly. Now that was interesting. If she wasn't mistaken she would have sworn she heard a slight hint of jealousy in his tone. Maybe she needed to go back to sleep, because that thought was completely crazy. After all, who would ever like _9_? The girl was crazy, not to mention a complete bitch 24/7.

"You didn't miss anything" 9 snapped quickly, clearly keen to change the subject.

"Her and Ricky used to-"

"Shut up 4!" 9 yelled over the top of her sharply, glaring steadily at 4.

"Who is he anyway? Why can't I just go to the hospital?"

"He's a... a doctor" 9 shrugged, looking down at the ground. "He'll check you out see what's happened... Does Ace know about this"?

Ivy's face changed immediately to an extremely grim expression as the memories of exactly what Ace had been doing when she came back to tell what had happened came flooding back. She didn't want to talk about him right then. She didn't even want to think about him. What she wanted to do was kill him, slowly and painfully. Really, really painfully. How could he do that to her? There she was out running round the streets because he had been horrible to her, and getting beaten up because of him, and when she comes back he was doing drugs with King and 6? Even thinking about it made her want to shoot something... or someone. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Vinnie making completely unsubtle 'cut it out' gestures, drawing his thumb across his throat with a grimace. 9 raised an eyebrow at him as though he was insane and then looked back at Ivy.

"No 9. He doesn't know any of this, because he's too busy getting drunk with all of the fucking losers in this house" she scowled.

"I'm pretty sure that's not all they were doing up there mate" Vinnie chuckled and then realised that that comment may not have been the best call at that moment.

"What else were they doing?" 9 frowned, as though she didn't know. Ivy glared at her.

"Oh, I don't know, smoking and marijuana and _coke_ and everything" she scowled and 9 and 4 exchanged an interesting look.

"Yeah, but Ace wasn't though right?" 4 asked as though that was a given.

"No, I'm pretty sure he was in on it aye" Vinnie muttered looking at Ivy uncertainly.

"Of course he was doing it, you could tell just by looking at him. He was completely off his face" she snapped and the look the other two exchanged this time was even stranger.

"Seriously?"

"No, I made it up. Yes dammit of course I'm serious" Ivy was practically yelling now and everyone looked slightly alarmed. The look that 4 was giving her was a mixture between completely confused and slightly amused.

"You know Ace doesn't do that kind of shit right?" 4 asked uncertainly.

"Well apparently he does, because I saw him"

"No he doesn't" 9 snapped over top of her. "Maybe you hit your head a little too hard when the hearts were beating you up, because he doesn't do drugs". She sounded really angry. For one second Ivy faltered, thinking maybe it was possible that she had imagined it. By why would she imagine something that terrible? And besides, Vinnie had seen it too. No, it was definitely real, she knew it was.

"You're protective for someone who's just a friend 9. Got something you want to tell us?" she answered, an icy tone to her voice. She didn't care that she was trying to pick a fight with pretty much the scariest person in the whole house. After all, it was justified; why did 9 care whether or not Ace was doing drugs? She had a reason, 9 didn't. She had known there was something going on there. "You're jealous aren't you? You just can't handle the fact that he likes me more than you".

9 looked at her incredulously, with just a hint of anger colouring her features. "Grow up Ivy, you know it's nothing to do with that. We're friends, and I don't appreciate you lying about him. Don't try and make this into something else".

For one second, Ivy found that she was unbelievably angry. Who did 9 think she was saying that to her? She wasn't one of the pathetic little unimportant gang members who she could just boss around. But quite suddenly she felt her anger becoming confused with thousands of other emotions that were running through her mind at the time. She was so tired and everything hurt so much, and to be completely honest what she wanted to do right then was burst into tears. She felt a stinging sensation in the back of her eyes and blinked a lot, biting her lower lip to stop the tears that were threatening to rise to the surface. There was a lump in her throat that was making it hard to swallow. 4 and Vinnie were looking at her worriedly and 9 was glaring, looking prepared to defend herself in the screaming match she thought was about to take place. Ivy looked away from them and blinked some more and with that, the sound of the doorbell could be heard throughout the house. 4 sighed with relief and scurried from the tension filled room, returning a minute later with a man in tow.

He looked about thirty, with prickly, short chestnut brown hair and long skinny limbs which were covered in tattoos. He looked like a skinnier more haggard version of King. Actually, what he looked like was a drug dealer, but Ivy didn't say that, she just looked at him uncertainly, hoping that this wasn't Ricky. If it was then she was pretty sure she was screwed. It looked like the only medicine he had ever dealt with was the illegal kind. But on the plus side, that probably meant he could give her something that would help with the pain.

A strange atmosphere replaced the tension that had been in the room as soon as the man entered. The incredulity that seemed to fill the silence most definitely emanated from her and Vinnie. Probably due to the fact that the guy looked like he would have been lucky to make it through high school, let alone know anything at all about, well, anything. 4 looked quite happy, in a devious, I know something you don't know sort of way that made Ivy want to cringe. Her sly smile was directed at 9, who had screwed up her face rather unattractively and was looking everywhere except at the man. It was then that Ivy managed to piece together exactly what 4 might have been about to say before 9 interrupted her. He on the other, didn't look all too worried about seeing 9. But then he looked like the type of person who wouldn't be all too worried about anything.

"Renee. How's it going? It's been awhile" he winked at 9, and Ivy laughed loudly before she put a hand to her mouth and muffled it. 9 glared at her and Ivy tired extremely hard to stop laughing.

"Yeah _Renee_" 4 snorted quietly and 9 slapped her on the back of the head, not all that softly.

"It's going good Ricky" she answered, with a look on her face like the look people got when they woke up in the morning and found themselves lying next to the ugliest person they had ever seen. Ivy fought back a fresh outburst of laughter and forced her face to become serious.

The other two weren't trying half as hard as her, because Vinnie was smirking and 4 was laughing, even while she rubbed the back of her head. Ivy had to admit, 9 really didn't look like a Renee. Renee made her think blonde, cheerleader type of thing. 9 made her think scary gang member. Perhaps Toni or Frankie or Ricky or something that made you think of a tough person. Not _Renee_.

"Good, good" he grinned. "I had a chat with 6 yesterday, he wanted to buy some stuff. I didn't know you lot were into that kind of thing". Ivy considered this sentence for a few seconds, then everything seemed to click in her head and she screwed up her face disdainfully. So he _was_ a drug dealer. But didn't that mean 4 had gotten a drug dealer in here to work on her? Should she be a little worried at that?

"We're not" 9 answered snappily, then gestured to Ivy. "This is the patient. We need to see what's wrong with her. She got into a fight with some people and they've done something to her ribs or something".

He grinned at Ivy and then a slow looking of a realisation appeared on his face. "hey man, I know you. You're that chick off the news...." Ivy scowled and waited for him to leave, proclaiming that he wouldn't work on a psychopath or something along those lines. Instead his grin grew bigger. "Good work man, there's people out everywhere looking for you. Way cool".

With that he took a step closer, his expression changing completely to one of concentration. "Let's see what we have here then" he muttered, then he looked up a little expectantly at 9. When no one did anything he sighed and nodded his head at the door. "I need a focused environment to do my work" he said shaking his head exasperatedly. "You lot are ruining the positive karma that the workplace needs to have".

He nodded at the door once more and 4 and Vinnie both walked to the door uncertainly. 9 didn't budge. "I think I'll stay" she said with a fake smile. "the _positive karma_ will be just fine I think". Ricky shrugged and turned back to Ivy.

"I feel I should reassure you, before I start; nothing that I do is meant to be sexual. I'm not attracted to you" he said holding up both hands in a reassuring gesture and 9 snorted. Ivy frowned at him and he continued hastily. "not that you're not good looking or anything, I mean, actually you're quite hot but this is strictly medical. But actually, you know once I'm done it won't be medical. How bout-"

"Shut up Ricky, she's with Ace" 9 interrupted, trying to hurry him along. Ricky pulled a bemused face and shrugged. Ivy scowled.

"No I'm not. Not after tonight I'm not" she snapped and 9 rolled her eyes in a way that told Ivy exactly what she thought of how maturely she was reacting to the situation. Ricky took a step closer and began to prod around under the sheets, making Ivy yelp in pain, or on occasion giggle hysterically.

It took him about five minutes to finish his 'diagnosing' which didn't seem all that technical to Ivy. Apparently he knew what he was doing though, which he felt the need to reassure her of about fifty thousand times during the process. 9 stayed quiet, simply watching the goings on with an attentive gaze, probably trying to take note of exactly where it hurt the most so she could come back once he was gone and hit her there. It wouldn't surprise Ivy in the slightest. When he was done, he took a step back and sighed, announcing, rather jovially actually, that she had two fractured ribs and probably a sprained shoulder. After that he rooted around in a small bag he had brought and dug out a bottle of something which he told her to drink some of every night, until she felt better.

Ivy took the bottle off him and sniffed uncertainly. It smelled like some type of extremely strong alcohol and she winced but kept it anyway. Planning to throw it out as soon as he was gone. Once the meeting with Ricky was over, 9 left to escort him to the door, or so she said. Ivy was considering that she was going to kill him after the way she had been glaring at him during the last ten minutes.

Finally, she found herself alone in the room, and lay back contentedly against the pillows, hoping for some much needed rest. That was until she heard the footsteps outside her door, followed by the sight of the handle twisting round. She looked expectantly at the door as it swung open to reveal the absolute last person she wanted to see right then.

Ace looked like he was about to die. His eyes were red and his hair was sticking up in all directions, even messier than usual. He did however, look concerned, which was the only thing that made her decided not to kill him. She opened her mouth to tell him to leave, but slowly and with a lot of effort he raised a hand to shush her.

"Wait, just wait one second Rock" his voice was croaky, and she realised she must have been out longer than she thought, because he was clearly completely sober now and was suffering the after effects of the night before. She had to admit, it was good she didn't like him because of his looks because if she did, she would have left him right there and then, he looked so haggard. But then again, she was considering doing that anyway, if she could move which sadly she couldn't.

He opened his mouth once more and croaked out "I think we need to have a talk. I have a bit of explaining to do".

**Sorry, I have to go to sleep, tha's why there's sort of a cliffhanger ending.**

**Alos, this chapter isn't edited, and Beautiful seclusion hasn't had a look at it so if it's shit that's why. Really sorry if it is.**

**ps. please review? please please please?**


	47. Why I hate to love you

Ace sat in the chair beside the bed, looking down at the ground. Ivy stared at him, but he didn't look up. He looked so tired, she almost felt bad for him. _Almost_. The uncertain, tense silence seemed to last for forever. Ivy wasn't sure if she wanted to hear what he had to say. She knew when he started to talk he would explain everything perfectly, and then she would forgive him right away. But she really wasn't sure if she was ready to forgive him yet. Maybe he would explain terribly and she would have the perfect excuse to leave, because for some inexplicable reason, she wanted to leave. As much as it would hurt and it would absolutely kill her, she felt a slight pull towards somewhere that wasn't here; somewhere where Ace wasn't around to do stupid things like this anymore, where he couldn't hurt her like he always did. Because that seemed to be the inevitable result of their conversations. They fought, she left, and then she came back. But finally, she was starting to get sick of coming back. What if this was it? What if she couldn't forget any longer?

"Say something Ace," she muttered finally, looking down at the bed to avoid making eye contact with him. if he looked up, she knew that looking in his eyes would make everything one hundred times too hard. She heard a rustling sound form the chair as he sat up slightly and then she could feel his eyes on her.

"I don't know what to say" he answered honestly and Ivy felt a twinge of pity in her heart which she crushed quickly to let the anger take her body over.

"You better think of something pretty quick then," she told him icily.

He looked on edge, as well as the killer hangover look that he already had going. Maybe if it hadn't of been his fault, she would have cut him a little slack. But he had made his own bed, he could lie in it. He had about ten seconds left before the absolute frustration of being in the room with him surpassed the pain that she was feeling right then before she got up and tried to leave once more.

"I didn't know what I was doing," he muttered, his eyes fixed firmly on the ground. "I didn't think about it".

"Obviously" she replied sharply and he looked pained. "I know you didn't think about it Ace, because you never think about anything." He looked a little reproachfully at her after that comment. He could disagree as much as he wanted though, because at the end of the day it was still true. He would do something stupid and then she would be the one who got hurt by it. It was starting to get old.

"You'd just left, what was I supposed to do?" he asked, as though this magically excused him from anything he had done.

"Not that! _Cocaine_ isn't exactly on the list of ways to get over people," she snapped.

"Come on, Rock, you know I'm really shitty with this whole emotional thing. I was confused right?"

"Well you shouldn't have been. It was your fault I left in the first place, you should have been out there looking for me, not here getting stoned with King," she crossed her arms huffily, flinched and uncrossed them, letting them fall by her sides.

Ace looked at her for a long time, his expression torn between exhaustion and something bordering on anger. Ivy didn't know what he had to be angry about. He was the one in the wrong here, not her. Eventually he sighed and ran a hand once more through his hair. "Rocky, not tonight, please. I'm tired as hell. All I want to do is explain what happened and then let you go to sleep so you can get better".

"Well go then, explain. I'm not stopping you" she answered, sounding incredibly childish.

"I'm sorry if what I did upset you. I didn't think and then when you got back, it was too late to undo anything. You left, and I didn't know when you were coming back, or even if you were coming back at all so I freaked out. You not being here... it's harder than I thought it would be. The guys were just around and I was stressed out. I wasn't thinking about anything except for you, and I'm just really sorry"

"How is me being gone hard? You don't worry when 8's gone or when King's gone. Do you think I can't take care of myself, is that it?"

"Rocky, you know that's not the same thing, don't act like you're not getting me" he groaned, looking like he wanted nothing more than to punch something.

Ivy set her jaw firmly, unwilling to forgive him if he wasn't even going to admit that what he did was wrong. "I'm not acting. I want to know, why is it so hard when I'm not here? I'm not any different from anyone else Ace".

Ace was silent for a long time, looking at her a little frustratedly, then looking away to ruffle his hair and stare at the ground. "I can't explain it Rock" he muttered finally, burying his face in his hands in a gesture that she usually would have found endearing. Now she wanted to scream at him, and throw things and stamp her foot to make him say something useful. "I don't know how to say it".

"Why, because you were so wasted you've forgotten already?" she said managing to keep the sharp tone to her voice despite wanting to burst into tears. She found that she was looking at him without realising it and when she found him looking back she flinched. The look he was giving her was pretty heart-wrenching. He looked sad and sorry and hurt and reproachful all at once. She couldn't feel bad for him, she couldn't let herself.

"No Rocky, it's because I don't know how to do this kind of shit okay" he told her, sounding frustrated with himself. "This whole _feelings_ thing, it's weird for me. Chicks don't, I mean, I don't usually- You're... You make me do stuff that I never thought I would do in a million years. You just make things different. Everything's different when you're around. I mean it's... it's better".

He broke off and sighed, running hand through his already messy hair exasperatedly. She had never seen Ace stumble over words so much before. It was making her heart twinge slightly and she had to mentally slap herself to stop the pity that was creeping up on her.

"Why do you do this kind of thing then? When you know what it's going to do to me" she muttered reproachfully, looking down at the bed and twiddling her thumbs a little nervously. He bit his lip and looked up at the ceiling in a frustrated way. She knew this must be hard for him, trying to explain something that he didn't even understand. But she was right though; he had known all along that she wouldn't want him to be doing drugs or anything like that. He never thought things through.

Ace looked everywhere except at Ivy, his eyes never stopping to rest on one object. He seemed to be thinking very hard about what to say next. "Cause" he came out with finally and Ivy looked at him uncertainly, hoping there was some more to that sentence. Finally after an eternity of uncertainty he sighed and looked at her. He had a strange look in his eyes. Like he had suddenly reached an irrevocable decision which he was about to share with her. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the determined look in his eyes. Was this it? Was she finally about to be let in on something?

"It's because you fuck me up in the head. Seriously. I can't think straight when I'm around you. Everything's just so perfect that I don't want to do anything ever again because I don't want to screw things up. And so I want you to go because I have to be able to think, or I'm gonna get everyone killed. But then when you do go it's worse, because I can't think about anything but you. Every time I turn a corner or open a door, I'm hoping you'll be there because life is so shitty without you; it's not even worth being here. And all the time it just gets worse until I think I'm gonna do something completely insane like jump off a building, just so I don't have to be here without you. And I know that that's scary and crazy and it sounds like complete bullshit, but I swear to god I mean every fucking word of it. That's why I didn't come after you today, because I was too scared that it wouldn't matter if I found you. I thought that you were gone for good and I knew that if I found you then it might be the end of everything and I just couldn't take that right now".

Her eyes were wide, and there was a lump in her throat that was growing every second. Ivy felt the first tear trickle from her eye and she wanted to slap herself, but she dashed it away and tried to look at him as normally as she could. Even though inside her stomach was churning ridiculously. He thought she was going to do what? First he says the greatest thing in the world, the thing she had been waiting the last six months to hear, and then he comes out with that? Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn't that.

"Of course I would have come back Ace, you think I think about you any less than you think about me?" she was practically whispering and she couldn't look at him. The tone of his voice when he answered her, however, scared her into looking up.

"I know. That's the problem".

Ivy looked at him uncertainly for awhile so she could process what she had just heard. Finally something in her in mind seemed to click. "You want me to go?" she asked, biting her lip to try and stop the tears which were threatening to overwhelm her. "Ace, I don't understand".

"Rocky, take a look around you" he replied with a hint of bitterness. "What's not to understand? You're fucking perfect and smart and gorgeous and amazing and everything I could ever imagine. You could have anything. And this, this is not what you want. You could have the whole world and instead you want to be here, in the middle of the most dangerous place in the entire country. Even if that doesn't matter to you, I'm not gonna let you stay here and end up dead or worse".

"Or worse? What's worse than that?"

"What if... What if you end up like us? Going nowhere, stuck here for good because you didn't get out when you had the chance" he muttered, looking down at the ground and Ivy bit her lip.

Suddenly, Ace didn't sound like a tough as nails, emotionless gang leader. He sounded like an eighteen year old boy who had no idea what the hell he was doing. But why shouldn't he sound like that? It was at that moment that Ivy realised with shocking clarity, that that was exactly what he was. She had been stupid to expect so much from him.

"Ace, I wouldn't change a single thing right now. I wouldn't leave, ever. Being here with you is exactly what I want. And I like you exactly how you are" she reached out a hand to his face, and found that the pain shooting thorough her ribs was somehow completely bearable. She lifted his chin so that he was looking straight at her and smiled a little tearfully. "Actually, I more than like you... I... I think I'm falling in love with you".

And with those words, Ivy realised just how true it was. She was in love with Ace. Completely and irrevocably in love with him, and she couldn't change it now if she tried. Or maybe she was more than just 'in love' with him. That sounded so stable, and this was anything but.

Finally, she understood the difference between loving someone and falling in love. Love was easy. It was like hanging from a ledge. Sure it was scary, but as long as you didn't let go, nothing was going to hurt you. Love was safe, but the problem was that you couldn't go on hanging forever. Eventually, you had to climb back up, or let go. Falling in love was letting go of the ledge. You went from feeling safe and stable and steady to feeling completely out of control in two seconds flat. It was crazy and fast and completely terrifying, and worst and best of all was that there was nothing you could do to stop it. All you could do was fall, and hope like hell that someone was there to catch you when you landed. But the thing was, the reason she had had so much trouble falling for Ace, was because she wasn't all that sure that he was standing at the bottom waiting for her. Not until now anyway. Now suddenly she had the trust that she needed to admit to herself that Ace just might be the one and only person for her.

Ace looked like he didn't know what to say. His eyes were wider than usual and his facial expression was changing from shock to uncertainty. Ivy felt something twist in her stomach when she realised what was wrong; he couldn't say it back. But was it because he didn't love her, or because he didn't understand it yet? It had taken her this long to comprehend what the hell was going on in her and she had normal emotions. For someone as closed off as Ace, it couldn't be so simple. Maybe what he needed was time. Time that she was more than willing to give, as long as there was some chance that he might feel the same way.

"Ace, I don't expect you to say it back you know" she murmured, "It's alright if you don't feel like that yet... Just, tell me that there's something there. Tell me I'm not wasting my time, waiting for something that's never going to happen".

"It's not that Rock. I mean, you're not wasting your time, at all, I just don't know about the whole... love thing. It's not that I don't, just that it's a big deal, you know and it's hard. Not that it's not true, because it is, okay you know what?" he stated decidedly after all of his crazy confusing mumbling. "I love you Rock, I have since the first time I saw you, and nothing is gonna change that. And now that we've got that out there, you need to sleep".

He rose from his chair and grinned tiredly at her. With his words came a sudden exhaustion which almost made her drop off to sleep right that second, except that she wasn't quite done talking yet.

"Since the first time you saw me?" she asked him with a small sleepy smile. "Really?"

"Really Rocky. Now go to sleep," he pushed some loose strands of hair of her face and turned to go.

"I think I loved you too you know, back then," she said drowsily, her eyes starting to drift shut. She hadn't realised she was so tired. "Even though you were annoying".

She heard him chuckle as her eyes shut completely. "Thanks a lot Ivy. Really".

"You know something else?" she added softly and when she heard no footsteps leaving the room she continued. "When you're not being the Ace of Spades, you talk really proper, like 3. I like it" she heard another soft laugh and then she couldn't stay awake any longer and she felt her mind drifting slowly into the blissful nothingness of the dream world.

...

**The end. Of the chapter anyway. I hope you guys liked it. I know it's what most of you have been waiting for for like the entire story so you better have liked it. hehe.**

**Thanks for all the reviews Moonwolf27, Miss Paparella, Insanexkoneko, Em, IamTheWalrus95, Liv, childhood disruption, Sophiasaur and reinventlove. YOu guys are awesome and you all say such nice stuff. I love getting reviews... Especially when they're super long and have consturctive critisism. lol kidding, but seriously. Long reivews are cool.**

**The next one's gonna be a christmas special. After that, I think this is almost done. I know that sounds dumb because I said that twenty chapters ago, but I really mean it this time.**

**It should be out soon, depending on whether or not I actually decided to do something christmassy or not.**

**thanks for reading guys. Seriously, much appreciation. **

**love y'all. Merry christmas in case te next chapter doesn't get out in time.**

**xx**

**Bee.**


	48. Christmas time

It took two weeks before Ivy could walk normally again. During the first week she slept in late and went to bed early, finding that she was completely exhausted despite having done nothing. The only thing that interrupted her sleep was the strange banging noises that were started to come from the basement towards the latter half of her recovery. It was in the second week where she stopped being so tired that she started to worry. Firstly the fact that she had no social life anymore was a bit of a sore point for her. She had gone anywhere in the last six months, and she could probably recite the full names of every single _days of our lives_ character besides her amazing new analysing talents which she had learned from _Dr Phil_. Yes, her social life was officially dead. Ace on the other hand seemed to be having the exact opposite problem. Whenever she woke up he was always gone, and even if he did happen to come home he was too busy to even talk to her for more than two minutes. At first it hadn't bothered her because she had been sleeping most of the time anyway, but now that she was recovered she realised just how completely tedious life was without him. Queen and 7 would come to her room sometimes, but it seemed as though right after she came back everyone had gotten unusually busy.

4 was the only one who seemed to be as bored as her, and until about two days ago, she had been spending most of her time in Ivy's room watching TV with her. Lately though, she had suddenly stopped coming, and as much as Ivy was bored sitting alone in her room, 4 hadn't been too much fun lately anyway, mostly moping because 10 hadn't been allowed out of hospital yet. The nicest thing about having 4 visiting her was that she got regular updates on how much snow there was outside. The last year seemed to have flown by, and until 4 had mentioned it, Ivy hadn't realised that it was almost Christmas time.

Ivy's other problem which she had found occupying her mind was the mirror that was sitting across from her bed. Well, not the mirror exactly, but more what she saw in the mirror. Her hair had begun to grow out and she now had a line through her hair where the black suddenly changed to a pale shade of blonde. Besides that her tan which had perfected itself while she had been at Camp Green Lake had faded so she was now a dark shade of ivory that made her look washed out at the best. She had considered smashing the mirror so she didn't have to see herself anymore, but at first she had been too tired, and after that she was too bored to care. Once she was better however, she found that she couldn't ignore the horror that was staring back at her any more. She couldn't do too much about her tan, but the hair was something she could definitely fix.

Ivy climbed out of bed, relishing the painlessness of the movement and wandered down to the kitchen, which was- unsurprisingly- empty. On her way, she passed what she thought must have been thousands of decorations. Sparkly red and green tinsel hung from the roof, and there were tall perfectly decorated Christmas trees in almost every room. Someone had even stuck fake snowflakes to the walls and hung them from the roof, and there were lights strung up along all of the hallways.

The biggest surprise however, came when Ivy walked into the dining room in her search for other human life in this house. The sight that met her eyes made her jaw drop to the floor and her eyes practically fell out of her head, they went so wide. The lights were crossed all across the roof in here, and the table was decorated with red and green everything. But the greatest thing she saw was the enormous tree which stood in one corner of the room. How they had managed to get something so gigantic into the house was beyond her, but however they had done it, she was impressed. The baubles and ribbons and lights that adorned the tree were spaced perfectly, as though it came straight out of a catalogue. Everything was red and silver, glowing brightly in the well lit room. The only thing that ruined the picture was the ladders that were leaning up against the walls on either side of the tree. 7 and 4 were both standing on the tops of them, trying to place a giant black and gold spade shaped decoration on the top of the tree. That was definitely a first. Ivy grinned at the sight of 4 in her doc martins and combats, with a fluffy Santa hat falling down over her eyes. There was a lot of yelling and complaining coming from both sides of the tree and when she caught some of what they were saying she couldn't help but laugh.

When they heard her, both of them stopped yelling at each other to turn and beam at her.

"Ivy! Thank god. Will you tell this idiot that the spade needs to move to the left?" 7 sighed exasperatedly.

"You're the idiot 7, are you blind? It needs to go right!" 4 snapped back, before turning back to Ivy. "Are you okay to be walking around? Shouldn't you be resting?"

Ivy grinned and shook her head happily at 4. "I'm all better. Can't feel a thing anymore" she explained. "And it does need to go to the left".

4 muttered something under her breath and pulled the spade in her direction a little roughly. A little _too _roughly. Her hand jerked right back and hit her squarely in the forehead. With that movement, her ladder began to wobble dangerously and she let out a loud high pitched scream, grabbing the tree in an attempt to steady herself. 7 swore and reached around the tree to try and grab 4, and stop the tree from falling at the same time.

"Let go of the tree, you're going to pull the whole thing over!" 7 screeched, while the perfectly positioned tree creaked perilously, leaning over in 4's direction until Ivy was certain that it was about to fall. Suddenly, and with a sharp, cracking noise, the branch that 4 had grabbed snapped off in her hand and with another scream, the ladder tipped sideways, depositing 4 and the spade on the floor.

Ivy put a hand to her mouth to try and hold back the laugh that was threatening to erupt from her, while 7 swore quiet profusely at 4. 4 managed to completely ignore 7's abuse, as she disentangled her limbs from the ladder and rose crossly to her feet, dusting herself off and glaring at the Christmas tree venomously.

"That's it!" she announced, striding purposefully towards the towering tree. "This stupid thing is coming down right now". 7 let out a small indignant gasp and scurried down her ladder to jump in between 4 and the tree.

"Don't even think about it" she said, looking about ready to kill 4 if it meant saving the tree. They stood glaring at each other silently, almost as though they were sizing each other up. Ivy could feel the tension rising in the air as 4 glared steadily at 7, while she looked back with a 'try me' expression plastered on her face. Suddenly, without any warning, 4 made a mad dash for the tree, dodging to the left of 7, who literally dived sideways and tackled the miniscule girl to the ground. They flailed around on the ground for a few seconds, as 4 tried unsuccessfully to get 7 off her. Quite quickly though, the removal attempts turned to hitting and scratching. Shortly the girls were practically attacking each other, rolling around on the ground with discarded decorations flying everywhere. Ivy stood watching them incredulously in the door, before deciding to step in.

She walked over and grabbed both of them by the hair, pulling upwards until they both let out loud shrieks and clutched at her hands, trying to pry them off. She tugged them apart, pulling until they were standing opposite each other glaring furiously at one another. 4 had screwed up her face rather unattractively in a rather animal like manner and 7 had her teeth gritted, while she wiped blood off a small scratch on her face.

Ivy sighed irritatedly, not releasing her grip on either of them. "If I let you two go, then do you promise to stop acting like children?" she asked in one of her more condescending tones. They exchanged glances before answering simultaneously;

"No."

"Fine, then I guess we can just stay here forever, because I'm not letting go until you do what I tell you" she answered, making sure that she sounded convincing, even though she didn't mean it in the slightest. She didn't care about their tree, they could do whatever they wanted with it. For all she cared they could keep fighting until they passed out from exhaustion, but to be honest, she felt a bit bad watching someone as small as fighting with someone who was fully grown. It just didn't seem right.

"Tell her to leave my tree alone" 7 replied snappily while 4 glared at both of them.

Ivy looked at 4, who stared back at her angrily. For a few seconds they held eye contact and finally 4 looked away stroppily. "Fine. Whatever. I don't care about the stupid tree anyway"

"Good. Then you won't mind not touching it anymore" Ivy said, slowly and carefully releasing both of them from her grip. She eyed them carefully, waiting for something to happen, but surprisingly nothing did. 4 simply pouted and turned her back on the terribly offensive tree huffily.

Ivy sighed, relived and turned to leave the room. She was completely tired out already just from being with these two for the last five minutes. She should probably go back up stairs and get some rest. That would probably be the best thing for her and her ribs right then. Just as she was preparing to leave, 4 interrupted her train of thought.

"Ivy, will you take me to the hospital?" she asked suddenly, sounding not the slightest bit angry anymore. Ivy scoffed a little at that and turned back to look at 4.

"Honey, I'm pretty sure 7 didn't do that much damage before" she chuckled, at which 4 rolled her eyes.

"Not because of that, stupid. 10's allowed to leave today and I want to go and pick him up. Can you come?"

Ivy thought about it. One the one hand, it would be nice to go upstairs and sleep, because she was feeling about ready to collapse at that moment. On the other hand, she hadn't seen 10 in forever and he must be getting pretty sick of being stuck in the hospital by himself. And besides, it wasn't like there was anyone else to go, because the others were all out and 7 wouldn't want to be stuck in a car with 4 for quite a while. But then again, did she really want to go out looking like a wrinkle-free Cruella de Ville?

"I'd love to" she decided, "But, there's something I need first" her eyes drifted to 7 who looked back interestedly. Ivy pointed a finger accusingly at her hair and 7 grinned.

"Well... How could I say no to someone so clearly in need" 7 giggled, taking Ivy's hand and dragging her back up to the wonderful green room the she inhabited.

...

It was almost two hours later that Ivy found herself walking down the halls of the hospital in the direction of 10's room. With her newly blonde hair and sunglasses, she felt a lot more like herself. She had to admit that was quite a nice feeling after such a long time of feeling like someone else entirely. She had missed being blonde. For some reason being blonde made her happier. Probably because when she felt like herself, she felt prettier. Or it might have had something to do with Ace meeting her when she was blonde. Perhaps she was scared that if she changed too much he wouldn't like her anymore. Or at least, she had thought that, before last night.

The thought of last night still made her heart flutter. No one had ever said anything like what Ace had said to her then. It made her feel weak at the knees even thinking about it. Ivy had never picked him as the romantic type. Come to think of it she still didn't, but the boy sure could come out with some stuff when he set his mind to it. He had even called her Ivy. She wasn't sure why, but it seemed like the most important thing he had said. Like she wasn't just the girl from camp anymore. The girl who had been bratty and selfish and shallow and maybe even a bit slutty. Maybe a bit more than a bit. But if she wasn't that girl who was she? How else did Ace know her? Was she the rich girl from Hollywood? The girl from the mental asylum or the girl on the news? Or maybe now that she wasn't Rocky anymore, perhaps she could be herself; that girl that Ace just might have been in love with since the first time her saw her.

Her heart leapt at the memory of those words. The words she had been sure he wasn't going to say. Only he did say them. He loved her. Nothing in her entire life had ever made her happier than when Ace said that to her. She had never been in love before. Not properly, like she thought she was now anyway. Sure she'd done the young love thing a million times with a million different boys, but it had never felt like this. Like she would give up anything at all, even herself just if meant being with him. For some reason that thought didn't scare which was strange, because usually it would have. Self preservation was generally number one on her list of important issues. Now that Ace had taken her place at the top of the list, she felt surprisingly okay with it. Honestly, she would have been okay with anything right now. She was feeling quite elated. Something which 10 didn't fail to pick up on when they arrived at his room.

He greeted them warmly enough, hugging them both tightly before he began to good-naturedly abuse both of them for not coming to visit him more often. It was unacceptable, he told them firmly as they walked him back to the reception to check out, how they had left him alone in the hospital for such a long time.

"It was only two weeks" 4 muttered, but Ivy could tell that she felt bad. Which in turn made her feel bad for not taking her, despite her perfectly valid excuse.

"It doesn't matter anyway" 10 said, obviously feeling guilty about upsetting 4. "I'm out now". With that, he gave Ivy a funny look and turned to 4, speaking in rapid Spanish to which she replied just as quickly, a small smirk on her face. Ivy scowled; she really should have kept taking Spanish at school. Scratch that actually, she really should have kept going to school. After about a minute of their glances and laughs, Ivy gave up trying to be polite. She wasn't about to sit there and be laughed at when she had no idea what was going on.

She was about to interrupt when something in the corner of her eye made her stop. She had a sudden strange feeling in her stomach, although she couldn't work out why. Her eyes drifted slowly to the left, the direction in which the open door that had caught her attention was situated. There was nothing particularly special about the room that she found herself looking into. In fact, it was probably one of the more boring rooms in the hospital. It was empty except for one boy, who lay asleep on his bed snoring softly. The room was decorated with some tinsel around the window and mistletoe hanging from the roof.

At first glance nothing seemed too familiar about the room. She didn't know the boy and there was no one else in the room. It was then that she caught sight of the sign over the door. The sign she remembered all too well from her last visit to this place. The stiff block lettering that read 'long term residents ward' made her feel slightly sick. There was something missing from this picture. Something big. Namely, the boy that should have been in the across from the door. The boy who had freakishly resembled her brother, minus the club on his arm. Where could he be? She was pretty sure that long term patients didn't leave all that often. And the only other option was that he was... She didn't want to think about it. Not until she was sure that the boy wasn't her brother. Once she knew that, then it didn't matter anymore. Until then, she was going to keep all thoughts of death well clear of her mind.

4 and 10 had stopped a little way up the hall and were looking back at her worriedly. She could hear 4 muttering to 10, who simply shrugged. Ivy blinked, bringing herself firmly back into reality, where her brother was dead and that boy was most definitely not him. She shook her head slightly to clear it before looking down awkwardly and walking straight past the others who exchanged another glance and then followed her.

Neither of them asked her any questions which was surprising, but not unwelcome. She wasn't sure if she wanted to deal with any questions right then. It was Christmas, she was meant to be happy, and here she was worrying about her little brother being dead. _Again_.

With the pace Ivy was setting they reached the front desk quite quickly, where a girl with badly dyed yellow (not blonde, yellow) hair and a bored expression sat, tapping her pen disinterestedly against the wooden table. She blew a bubble with the gum she was chewing and then popped it loudly when she saw the three of them standing looking at her expectantly.

"Name?" she asked, looking at them as though she could think of a thousand places that she would rather be at that moment. Ivy looked at 10, unsure of what name they had given.

"James Smith" he supplied with a small grin and Ivy tried not to giggle. The girl looked first at 10 and then at all of them as though they might possibly be completely insane. She tapped a few things into the keyboard without looking away from them, and then printed off a sheet.

She handed it over to them with a fake smile. "There you go _Mr. Smith_. Anything else I can help you with?" she asked, her eyes flicking to the door where someone new had just entered.

"Actually there is" Ivy said, rolling her eyes as she waited for the girl's attention to return to her. It didn't, although she managed to mutter something unintelligible to show she was listening, her eyes stayed transfixed on the person who had come through the door. "I need some information about a boy who was in your long term patient's ward?" Ivy had to stop herself from snapping her fingers in front of the girl's eyes. This was ridiculous.

"Name?" the girl asked, finally looking away from the door.

"Um... I don't really know" she suddenly realised that this was completely futile. Even if her brother was here, he wouldn't be checked in as himself.

"You don't know?" more tapping of the pen.

"Mac... Or Stallone? Either of those. He's 15"

The girl tapped away on the keyboard for a few seconds and then looked at Ivy with a shrug, her eyes drifting back to the person who had come in through the door way.

"There was a Michael _Stallion_. Same age" the girl told her, sounding unsurprisingly indifferent.

"That'll do, Where's he?"

"Gone"

"Gone as in died?"

"Gone as in checked out. Three days ago" the girl shrugged.

"Checked out?" Ivy felt a lurching feeling in her stomach. "Where to, where's he gone?"

The girl looked at her dubiously, as though she just might be a little insane. "We have privacy rules here you know. I can't just go giving out personal details to anyone"

"I'm not anyone, I'm his sister" she hoped she was at least. If this boy wasn't her little brother, she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to deal with the disappointment again.

"Prove it"

"I can't"

"Well then I'm really sorry, but I can't tell you anything." Ivy had never heard anyone sound less apologetic in her entire life.

She pursed her lips and flicked her hair over one shoulder, turning to go. "Yeah, I can see it's really breaking your heart. Thanks for the help." With that she strode from the room, followed by the rather stunned duo of 4 and 10. The Spanish had started up again. She wasn't interested enough to be annoyed anymore. Not at them anyway, but she could have hit the girl. The one person who had access to the possible whereabouts of her potential sibling and was refusing to give it to her because of some stupid privacy laws. Did she look like some kind of creepy stalker? This was completely ridiculous.

Ivy spent the walk to the car silently fuming and the drive home pondering. Perhaps, after thinking about it, she shouldn't have been so mad. Her brother- assuming this was her brother- was alive which was a hell of a lot better than where she had thought he was only the day before. And how far could he have gone in three days? He might have been out of the hospital, but he couldn't be completely better; it wasn't as though he was going to be flying anywhere. All she had to do was think it out, and she could work out where he was. It couldn't be that hard. And even if she couldn't work it out, the boy was running around with a giant club on his arm, meaning that there was a good chance that Ace or someone else would know where he was. The night 10 had been shot, ace had even been at the clubs headquarters. Really finding Mac was going to be simple. All that she really needed was a few days to come to terms with everything.

She would wait until after Christmas, and then she could start looking. That gave her three days before she would finally start the search for her brother. That sounded like a pretty good present to her.

The troublesome tree was finally finished when they walked through the dining room. 7 was proudly in front of it, admiring her work. Some neatly wrapped presents were already sitting under it, looking extremely small next to the enormous tree. 7 turned when they came in and smiled at 4 triumphantly as if to say 'look what I did without you'. 4 screwed up her nose distastefully but kept her mouth shut, much to her credit. She contented herself instead, with stomping from the room trying to make as much of a racket as was humanly possible. 7 looked at Ivy and an even more proud beam appeared on her face.

"Do you know how amazingly fabulous you hair looks? It's so Posh before she went completely anorexic"

"You know what I want to know?" 10 said with a snicker while Ivy grinned. "Is how someone who talks about Posh spice and her hair _ever_ got to be in a gang"

"I don't know 10. Maybe it's because even though I talk about Victoria Beckham I could still kick your ass"

"Of course you could Querida, I would never hurt a _girl_" 10 said, seemingly offended by the idea because he added a rather hurt sounding sentence in Spanish after that. 7 didn't respond very sympathetically.

"This is America _Javier_. If you want to speak Spanish all the time then go back to Mexico" she told him, with only a small hint of humour in her voice. 10 laughed, while Ivy stared a little disbelievingly between the two of them.

Ivy jumped when she heard footsteps behind them; she hadn't even heard anyone come into the room, but suddenly 6 was standing next to 10, his arm slung around his shoulders glaring at 7.

"Man, why do you have to be hating on my brother here because he's from Mexico? You just have to turn everything into something racial. I bet you think just 'cause I'm black it means-"

"Oh god, not again"

"Man don't start on that"

"6, don't, please"

"7!?" the mystery voice came from the hallway, and made Ivy jump. She realised after about a second that it was Ace, not only because of his voice but because of the tense silence which followed, during which, everyone's eyes darted around nervously, as though preparing for something bad. Ivy frowned; what on earth could they all be so worried about?

What would worry 6 and 10 about Ace calling for 7... unless. Ace's head appeared around the doorframe. "What the _hell_ have you done to my house?"

"I put up some decorations" 7 sure could pull off the innocent little girl when she tried.

"_Some?"_ he repeated incredulously.

"Well, I just thought... I mean you said I could up some trees and stuff" she was looking down at the ground with her hands clasped behind her back. This wasn't good lying. She had expected more from 7.

Ace glared at her and took a few more steps into the room. "Tree 7, _tree_. Ain't no 's' in that word". 7 scowled, finally giving up her innocent facade.

"Oh or Christ's sake Ace, I thought you were getting over this"

"And I thought that you weren't gonna try and make the house look like the North Pole. But hey, what do you know, I was wrong too"

Ivy looked from one to the other feeling more than a little confused. Why was Ace mad at 7 for putting up decorations? What was wrong with that? She liked it, it was better than what they used to do back when she lived at home. Now it actually felt like Christmas time, and it was making her happy. Clearly however the same effect wasn't felt by Ace.

"Take them down"

"Ace-"

"_Take them down_"

Ivy saw a small glare appear on 7's face as Ace turned and without another word walked from the room. As soon as he was gone 7 stamped her foot and crossed her arms over her chest in a very childlike manner. She began to mutter things to herself, and Ivy caught a few of the words, although she would have quite liked not to. 10 was looking a little dubiously after Ace, and 6 was edging quietly towards the same door, as though trying to escape before 7 got too angry. She wasn't sure if she should ask anything, but she couldn't really help herself.

"What was that about?" she looked to 10,not wanting to risk upsetting 7 anymore than she already was.

"He doesn't like Christmas" he explained, as though Ivy might not have picked up on that already.

"Why?"

"Dunno. He just doesn't. Which means that none of us are allowed to like it either"

A frown appeared on Ivy's face as she thought this through. It didn't surprise her too much. Ace didn't seem a lot like a Christmas sort of person, but that didn't give him the right to ruin it for everyone else. That seemed so stupid and immature. It wasn't like it was going to kill him to have some tinsel around the house. Maybe she could talk to him, at least to work out what it was that he didn't like about Christmas.

"I'll have a word with him" Ivy announced, standing from her perch on the edge of one of the chairs. "Don't take anything down just yet 7".

Ace was sitting by the window- the top of which was completely plastered in mistletoe- talking to someone on the phone when Ivy found him. He looked up when she entered, but made no other acknowledgment of her. He seemed quite agitated by whoever was on the other end of the phone.

"Then go somewhere else" he said, sounding frustrated. This was followed by a long silence, where his expression grew more and more annoyed.

"It ain't that hard. Tell him to-" Ivy could hear the sound of someone yelling from the other end of the line. Slowly the noise died away and Ace stopped looking so irritated, and his eyes flicked to her before he sighed.

"I know, I know. Oh god, don't cry, you're making me feel bad. Look I want to, but I can't" he ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes briefly.

"Yeah sure. I have to go okay. Just think about it" he waited a few seconds and then hung up the phone and tossed it over onto another chair a little exasperatedly.

Ivy walked over and sat down next to him, tucking her legs under her. She smiled at him and he looked back a little tiredly. There was a sort of edginess to him as well, and Ivy figured that he probably knew what she was going to ask.

"Who was that?" she asked casually, leaning back against the window. He was silent a few seconds.

"No one" he said, ruffling his hair some more. She ignored her desire to ask again. Christmas was more important than a phone call.

"Okay. So what's up?" she saw a small flash of aggravation in his eyes.

"Look Rock if you're gonna ask about what happened before then I really don't feel like-"

"I'm not" damn it, this was going to be hard. "I just wanted to talk to you. I never see you anymore". Ivy made sure to bite her lip and look away at the exact right moments to try and make him feel bad. She felt a little bad trying to play him like this but that was what he got when he didn't tell her things. The suspicious look disappeared from his face and he sighed, leaning back next to her.

"You changed your hair"

"7 did it. I haven't seen it properly, it's not terrible is it?" she didn't know where that lie had come from. Was she trying to test him or trying to bring the conversation around to the subject of 7?

He shook his head and gave a half smile. "It's good. It looks like you before"

She smiled, although she wasn't exactly sure what he meant. Had he meant it as basically as her hair colour the first time he met her? Or in his mind was there some kind of division between the her he knew first and the her after she left the camp? It would definitely make sense if that was the case. She was far from the same person that she had been when she was sent to camp. But if he liked it more, then did that mean that he liked her more when he met her than he did now? Or was she just being unnaturally paranoid? That must be it. She needed to stop stressing out over things.

"I've missed you, you know" she told him, uncurling her legs and laying them out over his lap. "This house is boring without you".

His finger began to trace a pattern on her calf, and she bit her lip to stop herself smiling too much. "Everything's boring without you"

"Not Christmas..." she trailed off hopefully. He looked at her unsmilingly.

"Rocky, don't" he said seriously, and his fingers stopped moving on her leg.

"Okay, okay. Sorry... It's just that-"

"_Rocky_"

"But Ace, why not? It's not like it's a big deal. 7 really-"

"Since when do you care what 7 wants?" he wasn't looking at her anymore, so her pouting was completely ineffective.

"Since I want it too" she looked down, trying to look sad. It seemed to be working, because Ace didn't talk for a long time.

"That's what you want? A _tree_?"

She looked up at him and bit her lip, shrugging. "It's not about the tree. It's about, I don't know, Christmas spirit and stuff. Do you know how long it's been since I had a real Christmas?"

He frowned. "What's so great about it?"

Ivy looked at him incredulously. What kind of person didn't know what was good about Christmas? It was only the happiest, best, funnest time of year. When everyone was smiling and hugging each other and laughing and singing. How could you not understand that?

"What's so bad about it?" she reached over and rested a hand on his leg. Surprisingly he didn't stiffen, or move her hand away, he just sighed again.

"It's just not my thing, alright. I... I've had a few bad Christmas' in my time. The idea doesn't exactly excite me?"

"Not at all?" she asked, smirking slightly when she remembered the mistletoe hanging over the window. He couldn't have chosen a better seat if he had tried. Which he most definitely hadn't. Ace shook his head.

She glanced upwards and smirked. He looked up and before he had even looked back down again, Ivy leant closer and pressed her lips against his. It took him a few seconds to respond to her but when he did, it was sudden and urgent. Not at all what she had been expecting. She had been aiming for the slow, tender approach. Clearly he wasn't thinking anything like her. His reaction took her by surprise, shocking her into an immediate and intense response. Ace's lips were fast and hungry on hers, his hands pulling her closer to him. She moved with him, shifting so she was straddling his waist. Her body was practically on fire. It had been far, far too long since they had done this. She pressed against him, wanting to be as close to his body as she could get, trying to in some way cool the heat that was consuming her. But the closer she got, the worse and better it seemed to get. Oh god, she wanted him. She wanted him so much.

His hands were moving all over her body, only serving to make her desire for him worse. Ivy couldn't breathe, but the thought of pulling away was almost painful. Before Ivy knew what was happening they had started to pull at each other's clothes, tugging whatever they could get at off. Ace's lips were kissing all over her, her cheeks, her lips, her neck, her shoulders. She moaned breathlessly.

Suddenly something seemed to clear in her head. What the hell was going on? What did she think she was doing, this wasn't what she wanted. Actually, that was very untrue, this was what she wanted, but not here. Their first time should be romantic, special. Not just some crazy accident that she knew she would regret later. She was in love with this boy. With some random guy this was exactly what should happen, but not Ace. With Ace it mattered. With Ace, it needed to be important because she needed to know that it still could be. Maybe it wasn't even about sex. Maybe it was just about being with him. She needed to know that it meant something to him. Because to her it was more than just something; it was sort of everything.

"Ace, wait" she told him breathlessly, leaning away and swallowing. "Wait"

Ace didn't stop, pulling her back in and kissing her again. It took almost as much willpower as before to pull away. "That means you have to stop kissing me" she muttered, looking away.

She felt bad. It wasn't as though she didn't want to, she just wanted it to be important. But how could she explain that to him without sounding stupid? He wouldn't get it at all. She'd sound like she was trying to lead him on and she wasn't. She grabbed her shirt off the floor and twisted it nervously between her hands.

"What?" he asked a little roughly, looking annoyed.

"I don't... I don't know if this is such a good idea" she murmured.

"You're kidding me right?" he asked, and Ivy could tell he was pissed off. "Jesus Rocky, this is ridiculous".

"I just want to wait a little while..." she tugged the shirt over her head

"Wait for what? What's left to wait for? Seriously, explain because I'm not getting it"

"I want it to be special okay? Because I love you. Sorry if that's too hard for you" she wasn't sure whether to cry or be mad. She went with a mixture of both, glaring at him, while biting her lip to keep back the tears.

He looked guilty, and she felt bad for making him feel like that. "Damn. Rock, I'm sorry. That was a stupid thing to say" he was doing the hair ruffling thing again, and she felt a little better when she realised that he actually felt bad. "You're right, I'm just being selfish"

"No, no you're not. I mean, I know it seems really dumb because it's not like I haven't done it before and I'm probably just being really stupid"

"Rocky, stop. I get it okay. But maybe we should talk about something else because as long as we're not gonna do anything, I'd rather stay off the subject"

"Okay. I think I can live with that" she gave a half hearted smile. Ace didn't return the smile, but he didn't look angry either. "So... about this Christmas thing?"

Ace closed his eyes and groaned. "Is this honestly what you want"? Ivy nodded trying her very best not to look triumphant. He sighed, resting his face in his hands. "Fine. Whatever. She can keep them up".

Ivy gave a small cry of glee and wrapped her arms tightly around Ace. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you" she beamed, although the sound was muffled by his shirt. He wrapped an arm around her loosely and muttered a rather unenthusiastic reply. She ignored the depressed tone and rested her head on his shoulder. "We should probably tell 7 before she takes everything down".

Walking down the hall with Ace's arm draped around her shoulders was a surprisingly pleasant experience. Ivy had never felt like she felt right then. She felt safe and protected and most of all wanted. It was amazing what an arm could do. The whole lovely experience was ruined when they heard people talking in the lounge as they passed it. Usually Ivy would have ignored it. After all, it was far from uncommon to hear people talking in this house. But something about the voices made her stop, although she didn't know what it was.

She tugged lightly on Ace's sleeve and pulled him in the direction of the door. She pushed it open a crack and peeked through the gap only to see the very last thing she had ever expected. Ivy was so shocked she almost fell into the room. For a brief moment she considered the possibility that she was going insane.

There, right in the middle of the room stood 9 and Vinnie, _kissing_. For all of two seconds. Until 9 pulled away abruptly and slapped him hard across the face.

"Don't ever do that again 5"

He chuckled raising a hand to his face, but looking surprisingly merry despite the blow to the face.

"I mean it. Don't ever touch me unless I say you can"

"Aw, come on 9, you're just so hard to resist how can I not?" he was grinning but Ivy could tell he actually meant it which was actually quite alarming. She could hear Ace laughing from behind her. This was completely insane. Vinnie and 9... That was just too weird.

"You're going to have to, if you want to keep all of your limbs attached" she replied, before turning and walking towards the door that the two of them were hiding behind. They were gone from the spot in one second, walking casually down the hall, trying incredibly hard not to laugh. Ivy could feel 9's glare boring into her back once she came out into the hall, but she ignored it, making sure to keep looking straight ahead, in case she couldn't contain herself anymore. Laughing at 9 seemed like one of the more stupid things it was possible to do.

Instead she waited until her and Ace were safely out of hearing distance before bursting out laughing. This was definitely going to make things interesting.

Ace disappeared for the next two days, returning in the idle of Christmas Eve looking like he had just come back from a boxing match. Ivy was getting used to various house occupants coming home looking like that, but somehow it never got easier seeing him look like that. She didn't bring it up though, wanting to focus more on the positive of it being almost Christmas. Ivy contented herself with cleaning up the blood on his face and checking him out for broken bones. He was alright though, as he always miraculously turned out to be. Ivy tried to keep her mind away from what the other person might look like. She still remembered 8 after he had been saying things about her. That was a far from pleasant memory. She thought instead about how wonderful the house looked and how happy everyone was. Nice thoughts were easy to come by at this time of year.

She spent the rest of her day sitting with the others, loving listening to their talk of old Christmas'. They talked about what presents they had gotten or given or where they had gone. They talked about food and family and making snowmen or ice skating. Queen turned all the lights on, on the trees before 7 put on a Christmas CD and proceeded to make 8 and 3 dance with her. It was one of the best times of Ivy's life. She wished she had more memories like this from her past Christmas eve's . Instead she remembered being alone in the house with her brother, while her parents attended to urgent work over in Tijuana or wherever the hell it was that they used to go to. She didn't know and to be honest she didn't care. All that mattered was now she had a family of sorts. And she was having fun with them. She 'd never been in a house listening to Christmas songs with the smell of things like ginger bread and fruit cake filling the house. Who would have guessed that this house would be like this on Christmas Eve? Holiday spirit and gangs weren't usually two words you heard together in the same sentence.

It was about 11 o'clock when Ace came down stairs, looking less tired and bloody , but still not that great. Ivy didn't care. She was just glad that he was there. It was nice to know that when she looked back on this time, he would be in the memory. By this time 7 had managed to get almost everyone dancing and it was one of the funniest sights Ivy had ever witnessed. There was 7 and 3, doing what looked like a very bad version of the twist to 'Jingle bell Rock', while 4 seemed to be trying to teach 1 how to do the Macarena. 2, 6 and 10 were laughing hysterically while trying to do all the disco moves they could think of and looking unbelievably stupid, while Vinnie was spinning 9 around as she tried to make him let go of her. A little off to the side Queen had her head resting on Kings chest, while they swayed slowly to the music. Queen had her eyes closed, while King had his lips pressed to the top of her head. Ivy sighed, a smile appearing on her face. She wanted to freeze the moment for ever, with everyone having so much fun because it looked so perfect. It made everything seem so normal, even though they were so far from it.

The magic of the moment was ruined almost completely when Queen moved back, standing up on tiptoes to kiss King, which soon turned into a full blown make out session. After about two seconds King grabbed Queen and half carried half dragged her from the room. Ivy bit her lip and grinned. Only those two would be so blatantly obvious about what they were going to do.

Much to her surprise, Ace stood up from his seat next to her and extended a hand. "Come on Rock. You know the picture ain't complete without at least one ridiculously sappy couple". She giggled, trying to hide just how happy his offer made her. Ace never did things like this. And besides that he hated this time of year. This was probably the most selfless thing she had ever seen him do.

She took his hand, moving over to take the place of King and Queen just as the song changed. The high pitched crooning of Mariah Carey's 'All I want for Christmas is you' filled the room and Ivy tried not to look too pleased. This couldn't be more perfect if it tried.

Ivy's head rested on Ace's shoulder, her eyes drifting shut as she drank in the deliciously familiar smell of his skin and hair and clothes. His hands were resting on her hips, his thumb stroking small circular patterns through her shirt while his face was buried in her hair. She couldn't have asked for anything better.

Neither of them noticed that a few of the pairs of eyes in the room were now focused on them. It didn't really matter.

"Did I mention that I love you?" she murmured softly, shifting her head so she could look up into his eyes.

"A few times" he chuckled quietly, before adding; "I love you too Rocky, you know that right?"

She looked up at his face and everything was suddenly right with the world. She couldn't imagine anything ever going wrong again.

"This is pretty romantic you know"

"You think?" she could tell he understood what she meant from the tone of his voice. "I was kinda hopin' you would say that"

"Do you want to go upstairs?" she murmured, her head now in the crook of his neck.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah"

"Then yeah"

"Come on" Ivy took Ace's hand and slipped silently from the room with him following behind her. She felt a little nervous, and his hand felt the slightest bit clammy in her hand. She wasn't sure whether to be worried or excited. What if it wasn't what she had expected? Or what if was a thousand times better, and she was just being paranoid. She bit her lip and cleared her mind completely.

She took a deep breath, turning to look at Ace one last time, before leading him slowly up the stairs.

...

**Okay, it's 2. 30 am, and I have to get up super early tomorrow, but i wanted to make sure that it was up before X mas.**

**Enjoy, it's really long, but i think quite a lot happens. I'm quite proud of how long it is actually, but the writing isn't fab and it isn't edited, sorry, but I won't have time to chekc it tomorrow even if Em dos finish editing it by then because it's X mas eve for us, don't know about the rest of you guys. lol**

**Anyway, merry christmas for real this time and enjoy.**

**ps. I hope everyone got what going upstairs meant? If you didn't actually though then you're pretty slow. lol**

**night.**

**xoxo**

**Bee**


	49. Author's Note

**A/N:**

**Okay, sorry this isn't a chapter. I'm just writing a short note to tel you guys what's happening.**

**First I hope you all had a great christmas, happy new year etc. etc.**

**I don't know about the rest of the world, but it's the summer holidays over here so we have seven weeks off school and I'm going away from now until Jan the 15th, and there's no interent access and even if there was I'm gonna be way too busy to write anything.**

**So the next chapter will be up by the 20th of Jan at the earliest. Sorry to keep you waiting so long, but hey at least I have a proper reason and I gave you guys some warning this time.**

**HOpe you liked the last chapter everyone who didn't review. lol**

**xoxo**

**Bee**


	50. When a stranger calls

**Sorry it took so long. I woudl elaborate, but that'd be pointless and a waste of time. :P Well I think it would be anyway, which is good enough for me. I wrote this in two days, and it's unedited, except by me, who's a terrible editor, so sorry if it'd terrible. I don't know if two days seems like a long time anyone else, but to me it seems like a really short time. usually it takes me like a week to write a chapter. Maybe I'm just weird. I hope you like it anyway...**

The phone was ringing. It snapped Ivy out of the daze she had been in. She listened to it, waiting for someone to get it, but the ringing didn't stop. Of course it wouldn't, she realised, since she was the only one still in the house. How exactly she had managed to find herself alone, in a house inhabited by thirteen people was a mystery to her, but also surprisingly pleasant. Despite the fact that it apparently meant she was on phone answering duty. So, with a slightly exasperated sigh, she got up and followed the shrill sound out into the hall. She picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she wasn't in an overly agreeable mood, and her voice must have a come across quite sharp, because there was a chuckle on the other end of the line. That was however, the only response Ivy got to her answer, other than some faint rustling, which sounded distant, compared with the laugh.

"Hello?" she repeated a little more agitatedly. What kind of person called up and then didn't speak? Apparently, this person, because once again there was no answer.

"Listen, are you going to say anything, or should I just hang up?" she snapped down the phone, and then realised that possibly, that wasn't the best idea, since the type of people who would be calling here would probably not be very even tempered, and she had probably just yelled at a mob boss.

There was a couple more seconds of silence, and then, suddenly and sharply, a loud string of curses followed by a long scream blared out of the phone. It was a scream of pure agony and terror, and it made her blood run cold to hear it. Then as suddenly as it had started, the noise cut off, and just like that, the line went dead.

"Hello?" Ivy repeated into the phone in a shaking voice, although she didn't really expect an answer because the steady beeping was all she could hear from the other end. Tensely, she put the phone down, her heart beating rapidly. She was having a bit of trouble breathing, and she was immediately aware that she was completely alone in the house. Anyone could waltz in here and grab her. God, for all she knew, someone could already be in there. Oh lord, she really shouldn't have thought that. Suddenly she was absolutely terrified. She was certain her heart was about to explode out of her chest, it was hammering so hard, and her spine prickled in fear.

She almost died of fright when the phone started ringing again. She stared at it, unable to move to pick it up, and unsure if she wanted to anyway. What if it was the same person? What if they did the same thing again? She was terrified enough as it was. But the phone kept ringing, and she found she couldn't ignore it. With a trembling hand, she reached out to pick up the receiver once more. She opened her mouth to say something into it, only nothing came out. Apparently though, she didn't need to speak, because it was only a few seconds after she put the phone to her ear that she heard a voice from the other end.

"Don't make a noise. Do exactly as I tell you." The voice was low and distorted, and it sent chills down her spine. "If you don't, we'll hurt him." As if to prove their point, this threat was followed by a thud and then a low groan, which Ivy assumed had come from whichever 'he' they were referring to.

"Who is this?" she asked, and her question was followed by another short, sharp scream from the other end of the line.

"That would qualify as making a noise," the voice informed her. She felt a little sick. "Are you alone? Answer yes or no." Dumbly, Ivy nodded her head, then realising that whoever was speaking couldn't see her, she squeaked a soft

"Yes."

"Good. Is there anyone else in the house?"

"No," Ivy murmured. She was certain she shouldn't be telling the person this, but something in her couldn't quite bear to hear that voice screaming anymore. This was one of the very, very few moments in her life where she wished she was 9, who would have probably just let them kill the person, rather than spill anything.

"In that case, we have something to offer you," the voice sounded excited, or at least as excited as I was possible for an altered voice to sound.

"What's going on?" she wanted to cry, she really did. "Who is this?"

"We have your brother." Her breath caught in her throat. Her stomach was churning something wicked, and she was considering either crying, or throwing up. She could feel every drop of blood draining from her face.

"Oh God..." she breathed, clutching the phone so tightly her knuckles turned white. "Y-you, you're lying." Her voice was barely louder than a whisper. She heard some more rustling, and a crackling noise, then, suddenly and loudly in her ear, an all too familiar voice whimpered.

"Ivy," it was a low groan, "Please-" he broke off with a sharp screech, and then she heard more rustling, before the other voice came back on.

"The third warehouse on the docks, be there Sunday at midnight. Alone"

"Wait-" the line went dead once more. Ivy felt her breath hitch in her throat again, and she sank to her knees, the phone dropping from her now clammy fingers onto the ground. A sob escaped her, and she let it, not bothering to try and hold it back, and before she knew it, great, racking sobs were shaking her whole body. She couldn't get the sound of her little brother's screams out of her head, and they echoed around in there, making her weep even more uncontrollably.

She didn't know how long she knelt there, tears streaming down her face, but eventually she seemed to run out of them. And when they were gone, all the sadness disappeared along with them. The anger however, remained. She didn't know who had her little brother, but she did know that she was going to find out when she went to that warehouse on Sunday night. That was only three days away. She was going to need to act quickly if she was going to get everyone's help. After all, she wasn't quite stupid enough to attempt a rescue mission on her own, even if the man had said to come alone.

...

She sat in the kitchen, stirring an overly large cup of coffee when she heard the sound of cars pulling into the garage. It wasn't long before people could be heard making their way into the house. 7 was the first one to saunter into the kitchen, specks of dirt covering the right side of her face, and suspicious red spots splattered on what Ivy assumed was a previously pristine white shirt.

"Hello Ivy." She sounded far too happy, considering the state of her. But then again, what could you expect? "How are you today?"

"Fine," Ivy answered, and was glad to find that her voice remained steady. Now that the sound of voices was filling the house once more, the uncomfortable, slightly terrified feeling was fading.

"That's good," 7 smiled at her, brushing distractedly at her face, and the dirt fell off, landing on the floor.

"Where have you all been?" she asked, as 8 joined them, with a very slight nod in Ivy's direction.

"Oh you know," 7 gave a small, slightly high pitched laugh, and waved her hand nonchalantly, "Just around." Oh, Ivy thought, so it was going to be like that, then.

"Right. Is Ace here?" she felt like maybe she was being a bit rude, but then, she doubted it was anything they weren't used to. And besides, she really needed to talk to Ace. 7 and 8 exchanged a look.

"I think he's in the shower," 7 answered, and almost simultaneously, she heard the sound of running water from above their heads, "He'll be down soon."

Ivy raised an eyebrow. "I guess you're not gonna tell me what's going on then?" she asked dully. The twins exchanged another glance, then shook their heads perfectly in sync.

"No," they chorused, and turned on their heels, slipping through the door one after the other. Ivy sighed.

"Great," she muttered, propping her chin on her hand, and then taking a long sip of her still steaming coffee.

It was a couple of minutes after 7 and 8 had departed that the others flocked into the room, yelling, hitting and practically jumping over each other in order to get to the free seats first. 9 and Queen followed the in a couple of seconds later, sauntering casually along behind the others, talking to each other in low, insistent voices.

"King," If she couldn't get her first choice, Ivy was going to have to go with the second best option, "Do you think I could have a word?"

There was sudden silence after she said those words, and Ivy wondered what was quite so interesting about a conversation. She sat a little uncomfortably, waiting for him to answer, while everyone in the room looked from her to King intently. He just raised an eyebrow at her and nodded. "Sure." He made no move to get up and the others were leaning a bit closer now, in a way that sort of reminded her of hyenas or something.

"Um," she glanced at the others uncertainly, then added firmly, "Preferably alone."

He shrugged. "Whatever." Then he turned to look at the others and nodded his head in the direction of the door slightly.

"Man, we just got here," complained 6. "Can't you two go somewhere else?"

"No."

"What happened to majority rules and all that?" 3 added with a frown.

"That only counts when I'm in the majority, now get out," King waved a hand at the door impatiently. No one moved. "Don't make me have to get out of this chair. Trust me, it won't be pretty."

Muttering things, and grunting cruses which Ivy was kind of glad she couldn't make out, they filed from the room. The last thing she heard before the door shut behind them was 2's voice, disgruntled but slightly amused.

"Watch out Queen. Looks like the new girl's making moves on your man." This comment was followed by a yelp of pain, which was so loud it echoed right through the door. If Ivy had of been in a better mood, she probably would have smiled.

Once he was sure they were gone, King turned to her expectantly. "What's up?"

"Well, I mean, I don't know how serious it is, really." That wasn't true. She had no idea why she was trying to downplay the importance of the phone call from hell. "But I figured maybe I should tell you because it kind of freaked me out a little."

King frowned. "What happened?" He seemed on edge.

"Well, see, I got this call when you guys were out and-"

"You answered the phone?" he interrupted, his brows drawing together, and making Ivy feel a little rude. Perhaps she shouldn't have answered the phone in someone else's house... But it had been for her.

"Sorry. I didn't realise it was such a terrible thing to do," she scowled at him. "Anyway, that isn't the point of the story, and it's kind of important, so could you listen?"

King waved a hand unceremoniously. "Well keep going then," he told her, as though it should have been obvious.

"Fine, whatever, anyway; I answered the phone and there's some psychopath on the other end, telling me how he's got my brother and they're going to kill him if I don't meet them at some warehouse on Sunday night."

"Who was it?" King's voice was sharp, despite the closed off expression that his face was showing.

Ivy glared. "Don't you think if I knew that, I would have said?"

"Just thought I'd check, Ivy. What else did he say?"

"I don't remember. All this crazy stuff about hurting my brother, and me being alone and then they put him on the line and they were hurting him, and he was crying and-"

"Are you sure it was him?"

"Of course I'm sure," she could feel herself getting worked up again. The pitch in her voice was rising constantly and there was a lump in her throat again that she didn't like.

"And you're sure he didn't say his name?"

"Yes!" this was starting to get annoying, and it wasn't helping with the building hysteria.

"But it was definitely a man?"

"Oh for God's sake, would you stop asking these stupid fucking questions!" it must have been about then that she snapped, and a fresh bout of tears came on her. They were pouring down her cheeks before she could stop herself, and she dashed them away angrily, but more kept coming.

"I," she sniffed, "I don't care who I was talking to, I j-just want m-my brother back."

And then before she even knew what she was doing, she was practically wailing, sitting down on the nearest chair and burying her face in her hands while small sobbing, gasping noise escaped her throat. Ivy knew she was probably making King more than a little uncomfortable, but she was a little too preoccupied with her brother to actually care.

"Right." She could practically picture the grimace on his face, "Are you... _okay_?" he sounded more disgusted than concerned. Ivy didn't answer, just kept crying loudly into her sleeve.

"Okay then... Do you want, like, a tissue or something?" Ivy shook her head, wiping her nose with her shirt, even though it was completely disgusting and she kind of did want a tissue.

"No," she wailed, crying even harder.

"Shit. Do you want... I don't know, what do you want?" King muttered uncomfortably, sounding like all _he_ really wanted was to run out of the room as fast as he could. Ivy sobbed loudly, and before King had time to move, she flung her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. She wasn't really sure why she had done it, but it just felt like the right thing to do.

King froze completely, and sat stiffly, not moving even a centimetre to try and get Ivy's tear stained face off his shirt. "_Okay then_," he repeated, uncertainly, and Ivy was pretty sure that if she was anyone else he would have thrown her half way across the room by now. As it was, he was probably too scared of what Ace would do to him if he found out so he just decided to act like a statue.

"Sorry," she cried, "I'm, just, r-really worried about him."

With that sentence, the door opened and slow footsteps entered the room.

"What the hell?" it was Ace. He didn't sound annoyed, he just sounded... Actually, he sounded like he thought the situation was kind of funny. Obviously, this was before he realised Ivy was crying. When he did, his amusement turned to something sounding a lot more like exasperation.

"Damn it. King, what have you done this time?" he groaned, at a bewildered King, who was still standing still as a stone in Ivy's grip.

"I haven't done anything man," his voice was edgy and uncomfortable. "I was just talking and then she came over and started crying on me and shit."

Ivy felt a hand on her shoulder, and next thing she knew it was Ace she was hugging instead of King and thankfully he was hugging her back, his warm hand rubbing soothingly over back.

"She wouldn't just start crying on you King, you idiot. You must have said something," Ace spoke from next to her ear.

"We were just talking about her brother."

Ace sighed. "Come on Rock, you're alright," he muttered in her ear, his thumb moving reassuringly up and down the bottom of her shoulder blade, then he added in a hushed voice to King, "What about her brother?"

"I can hear you!" Ivy sniffed finally, pulling away from Ace glaring between the two of them. Ace ignored her look.

"What about your brother?" he redirected his question to her. Ivy opened her mouth to speak and found that she the lump started to rise in her throat again when she tried to get the words out.

"Apparently someone has him hostage," King said, looking a little uncertainly at Ivy, as though he was scared that she was going to start crying again.

Ace took a seat, resting one of his elbows on the solid marble bench top beside him. "They what?" he didn't sound quite like what Ivy had expected him to sound like when he heard the news. That was, he didn't sound angry. He didn't even sound worried. Where exactly was the chivalrous defensiveness? Not that Ace would ever really be called chivalrous, but he could have at least faked some concern.

"They've kidnapped him, and they said they're going to kill him if I don't go and see them at some warehouse on Sunday night," Ivy told him, hoping maybe this would elicit a bit more of a reaction. Sadly it didn't.

Ace nodded. "And you believe them?" he asked in a tone that was almost condescending.

Ivy raised her eyebrows at him. "Of course I believe them, they put him on the phone."

"And you don't think there's any chance that another kid might sound like your brother? He's not the special you know Rocky."

Ivy stared at him, open mouthed. What the hell was he thinking? Was he not even going to give it a chance? She gritted her teeth. "I think I know my own brother when I hear him Ace. But I guess you wouldn't know what that's like since you don't talk to your family."

He raised an eyebrow, but strangely enough, he didn't yell at her, he just rolled his eyes. "If you could be mature for one second that'd be real nice," he told her bluntly. "You don't need to get worked up over this. It's just someone playing a joke. Forget it ever happened."

"How do you know?" Ivy snapped, unable to believe Ace was going to be so ridiculously stubborn. 'What if it's true?"

"The thing is Rock, it's _not_ true," Ace told her, leaning back in his chair, an air of complete certainty in his voice.

"You weren't there Ace, you didn't hear the phone call."

He looked at her, shaking his head slightly. "Listen, you're over-reacting. You just need to do something else. Take your mind off it."

"How am I meant to take my mind of this, my _brother _is going to be killed! If this is so fake then why did King believe me?"

"He's overdramatic?" Ace shrugged nonchalantly, running a hand through his hair absentmindedly.

"What the hell?" Ivy was practically yelling she was so frustrated. "Why aren't you taking this seriously?"

Ace sat forward and looked squarely at Ivy. "I'll tell you once more Rock, there's _nothing_ to be serious about." His voice was starting to get a little colder, and Ivy could tell she was annoying him now. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"I know that was my brother Ace," she lowered her voice, meeting his gaze head on and glaring back at him angrily.

"So you're just going to traipse off to some warehouse you know nothing about, all by yourself? Do I need to remind you what happened last time you went out alone at night?"

Ivy glared at him even more irately. There was no need for him to bring that up. "Actually, that's exactly what I plan on doing."

"Not likely Ivy. Really not likely," Ace told her, his face impassive, but his tone set.

"I'm going and that's final." Ivy had had just about enough of his treating her like a kid.

"No you're not."

"I'm not asking you Ace, it's not your decision."

"You're not going."

"You can't stop me from going places I want to go!"

"Watch me."

"What, so you think you can tell me what to do now?"

"No, I think you should shut up, you're giving me a headache."

Ivy opened her mouth, shut it, opened it again, and then, with a stamp of her foot, she stormed angrily from the room, retreating to her bedroom where she could sulk in peace.

...

It was a few hours later that Ivy decided she was almost done with her sulking, and was willing to give convincing Ace another shot. She climbed off her bed and after fixing her hair in the mirror, because she could feel it sticking up in all directions, she headed downstairs.

She looked in all the lounges, but he wasn't there. He wasn't in the kitchen either. Or any of the bedrooms. He wasn't even in the offices, which she had only checked as a last resort. As a matter of fact, it seemed that Ace wasn't anywhere at all inside the house.

Ivy sighed. It seemed that her persuading might have to wait for a couple more hours. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing; it gave her more time to think of something good to say that would make him start taking her seriously. With this comforting thought in mind, she started walking back to her room. But the sound of voices coming from one of the offices stopped her.

The door was open a tiny crack and hushed voices came out through the gap. Ivy could only just hear them from where she was, and even though she knew she shouldn't be, she was curious. She took a step closer, crouching down and getting her ear as close to the door as she could. It didn't take long to recognise the voices.

"I don't know man, I don't like it." That was 10, his tone tense and uncertain, his heavily accented English giving him away.

"You don't have to like it. You just have to do it." And the second voice was King, using his normal, slightly pissed off voice."

"What did Ace say about it?"

"He's gone to see them now," King told the other man, "They called about an hour ago."

"Don't you think there's something a little weird about it?" 10 asked still uncertain, "I mean, we've been hearing things about this shipment for months and no one said anything about it being this soon."

King didn't answer, and without seeing, Ivy could picture him shrugging, rubbing a hand over the coarse stubble on his head. 10 broke out in a string of Spanish words, which were far too quick for Ivy's limited Spanish to understand. Apparently King agreed with her.

"Lose the Spanish _hombre_. This isn't Mexico," he said irritatedly, before adding in a more casual tone, "Just go with it. Do you really wanna be the one to screw this up?"

"I'd rather be the one who didn't die, if you don't mind."

"Shit happens." Ivy heard a chair scraping and she realised it must be someone getting up. "You better..."

Ivy didn't hear the rest. She was too busy climbing silently to her feet and trying to sneak away without either of them hearing her. She could guess that this might be something she wasn't meant to know about. Not that she actually knew anything about it right now. What she did know was that something was going down. Something major. And she intended to find out what it was.

...

**So that's all. I swear I'll try and update faster from now on. Only I have this other story on fictionpress. Which btw is wicked, if you're not on it you should totally go and have a look! But I haven't updated it in ages and I feel bad.**

**Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, if it wasn't for you guys, I totally wouldn't have ever started writing again, and while I'm a bit amazed that no one else has realised how completely shit this story is (and trust me, I'm serious, go back and read the start it's _TERRIBLE_. I almost cried when i saw how horrific it is. I wanted to hit myself over the head with a... well I hadn't got as far as what I was going to hit myself with, but something hard, trust me), thanks for sticking with it, and I hope you're not too mad at me and want to murder me. And hope you haven't given up on the story completely either. It'd be nice if you hadn't.**

**Anyway, that's really all. Thanks for reading.**

xx

**Bee**

**ps. Lemonsour, Thanks for adding it to your c2! speacial much? :P You rule.**


	51. The inevitable game of Truth or dare

**Okay, I'll apologise at the end for the wait. This is more of a warning. This chapter's kind of... different? Actually not really. But I do have to apolgise profusely, because there is....**

**A game of Truth or Dare.**

**I know. I'm messed up and crazy and whatever and it's so wrong of me to make gang memebers play truth or dare. But it's funny so cut me some slack. At least I think it is.**

**The catch is there's a bit of stuff in this chapter that people might find offensive, eg. Girls taking their clothes off, girls kissing, 9 and 5 kissing, some rather full on comments made by Ace and 2 and a very near sex scene.**

**That said, I hope everyone enjoys. read away.**

* * *

Outside, the sky was grey, drizzle falling lightly downwards and covering the windows in a thin film of water. Inside, the lights were on, and in the dining room there was a roaring fire in the fireplace, warming the room considerably. Upstairs, Ivy was draped lazily over the couch, her feet resting in 10's lap, both of them watching as the man on the screen made shushing gestures with his hands. He was about to take the camera man into a swamp where he claimed it was highly likely there might be alligators.

"Why's he going in there anyway, that's what I want to know." 6 shook his head from his seat a few feet away from them. "Who wants to purposely walk around in a swamp full of crocodiles without a gun or anything?"

"Looks like fun if you ask me." 5 shrugged. "I'd give it a shot."

6 pulled a face. "You're Australian. You don't count."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're used to that shit."

"You do know not all Australians live in swamps?"

"You do know I don't give a shit?"

"Man, I thought you were all anti-racist."

"Oh, you really wanna start that?"

"No!" Ivy interrupted before either of them could get another word in. "No, he doesn't want to start that. Neither of you do. Now shut up and watch the show."

Both of them exchanged looks like they wouldn't have minded continuing but neither of them actually spoke. A couple of seconds later the door opened and Ace strolled in, ruffling his hair casually as he turned to look at the screen. When he saw it, he raised an eyebrow.

"What's this shit?" he stopped and leaned against the wall, watching the TV dubiously.

"It's _Man vs. Wild_," 5 informed him. Ace nodded.

"Right." He looked at 10 and nodded his head slightly in the direction of a free couch. 10 grinned and got up silently, shuffling over to the sofa and sitting down on it. Ace grinned and walked over to the newly vacated seat, offhandedly lifting up Ivy's legs which were still draped across it and flopping down in it, letting her leg's drop back on him once he was comfortably slouched, with his arm draped over the back of the chair. Ivy rolled over and looked at him, raising her eyebrows.

He hadn't spoken to her since the argument the day before, and she was somewhat surprised at the new development.

"So we're friends again now, are we?" she asked, trying to be quiet, mostly to avoid drawing attention.

He looked back at her and winced, tilting his head back and groaning quietly. "You're not talking about that thing yesterday are you?"

She pursed her lips at him, assuming her silence would probably say enough. He nodded.

"Okay, look," he reached down and grabbed her hand, pulling her up and taking his hand off her legs so she could put them down on the ground. "My bad. I wasn't tryna upset you or nothing, and if I did-"

Ivy glared at him, and he shrugged amusedly. He pulled her a little closer to him, so he was speaking more in her ear than to the room.

"-Okay, _because _I did, I'm sorry. But c'mon babe. You gotta remember I've seen way more of this shit than you ever have, and hopefully ever will, right, so I know more about it than you do."

Ivy could tell by then that everyone else was listening to them, despite the hushed tone that Ace was using.

"I know. But you didn't even give it a chance," she whispered back, looking fixedly down at the carpet. She didn't really feel comfortable having everyone sit around and eavesdrop on the conversation.

He sighed, and his face was so close to hers that she could feel the air moving past her ear as he breathed out. She felt a small flutter in her stomach, and frowned. Frustration and excitement weren't two emotions she was used to feeling at the same time.

"Alright. I said sorry, but look, I guess you're just gonna have to trust me," he murmured, wrapping an arm around Ivy's shoulders.

"Why?"

"Because I know what I'm doing."

"But... well, I-" Ivy muttered, her eyebrows drawn together in a frown. "Fine. Okay."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she murmured, sighing.

She could feel Ace's mouth stretching into a grin against her cheek. "Thanks," he put a hand to the far side of her face and pressed his lips a little roughly against her cheek, in what was quite possibly the most romantic gesture he had ever made. He must have been in a good mood, Ivy thought, although she couldn't guess why. Whatever the reason though, she was hardly going to complain.

She leaned back slightly and turned to look at him, their faces a couple of millimetres apart. "Don't mention it," she smiled, leaning in and kissing him briefly on the lips. She pulled away from him resting her forehead against his as his thumb stroked lightly along his jaw. She had somehow forgotten about the others in the room, who may or may not have been stealing rather alarmed glances out of the corners of their eyes at the couple.

"What, so we're friends again now?" Ace chuckled quietly, throwing Ivy's line back at her, before using his hand to pull her lips back to his for another quick kiss.

"Maybe," Ivy answered, in between kisses, "If you're nice."

Ace's grin turned into a smirk. "I'm always nice."

"Okay, enough. If you two are gonna start doin' that shit, I'm so gone," 6 announced, and Ivy turned to see him rising to his feet, ready to leave. She grinned, looking round the room at the other two men, who were both looking like they were in agreement with 6.

"We're not," Ace clarified, before she could speak. She raised an eyebrow. It wasn't that she minded, that was just a rather out of character thing for him to say. He turned to her. "I have to go. I'll be back later, okay."

She nodded, planting another quick kiss on his lips before he jumped to his feet and walked from the room. It was all in all an extremely abrupt exit, and Ivy was a little confused. Something didn't feel right, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. But then again, if whatever it was, was going to make Ace act nicer, she wasn't going to complain. Still, it would have been nice for her to be a little more informed. Unfortunately, being out of the loop was something Ivy was starting to get used to.

...

"I'm some kind of bored," groaned 5, throwing a tennis ball at the wall opposite him and catching a couple of millimetres away from his face. He was sprawled out on the couch in the downstairs living room, looking like he was about to shoot himself. Seated on the floor, leaning against the front of his couch was 9, who was staring at the TV intently and ignoring everyone else in the room, while at the same time making completely sure to not touch the man behind her.

"So you're not just bored then?" 4 asked him, pulling her legs up onto the couch she was seated on and crossing them under her like a yoga instructor. 5 looked at her blankly.

"Huh?"

"You said you're 'some kind of bored'," 4 repeated. "Not just bored."

"It's an expression kid," 5 told her, a little irritably, chucking the ball at the wall again.

"Well it's the stupidest one I ever heard," the girl announced, "Don't you think 7?"

Much to Ivy's surprise, 7 was present for the boredom fest going on in the lounge. She had sauntered in sans 8 and sat down without a word to anyone. Ivy seemed to be the only one shocked by the blonde's presence, since no one else had said anything to her about it either. Maybe they didn't notice that 7 was in the house roughly five hours every week.

"No," 7 answered dully, not appearing to care too much about how stupid the expression was. "I agree with him. I'm bored too."

4 scowled, and muttered something under her breath, which Ivy caught a few words of and was glad she hadn't heard the rest.

"Maybe you should all try astrophysics," 3 announced from his seat three inches away from the TV. "It's very stimulating for your mind."

There was a moments silence, followed by a chorus of laughs, which seemed to offend the young man immensely

"Just because you lot are too stupid to get it," he muttered bitterly, turning back to the TV. In some ways he really did remind Ivy of nerdy little 1.

"I'd rather have other parts of me stimulated." From over in the corner of the room, next to the window, 2 piped up. He had his head dangling out the window, taking a long drag on something which Ivy had hoped was a cigarette and not something more potent. "Maybe you should go and find something to do, rather than sitting here bitching about it."

"Maybe you should go fuck yourself," 7 retorted bitchily.

"Only if you help, babe," he answered sarcastically and 7 made gagging noises. 5 and 3 both cackled loudly.

"This is ridiculous," 4 muttered. "We have six people in the room and not one of them can think of something fun to do."

"I can think of plenty," 2 corrected her, "It just doesn't involve kids like you." He winked at Ivy, and she snorted doubtfully.

"Likely," Ivy told him, rolling her eyes.

"Just keeping my options open. You should think about doing the same," he told her, and even though she knew he wasn't serious Ivy grimaced. Even being in the same room as him was enough to make someone worry about dying of second hand smoke. She was hardly going to put her mouth anywhere near his.

"I've got an idea," intoned 3, looking up at the people seated in the room. There was a moments silence while the others exchanged glances. Ivy knew what they were thinking, because she was thinking it too. Whatever it was that 3 was about to suggest there was no way in hell it was going to happen. First and foremost because it was 100 percent sure to involve either guns or science, neither of which were things Ivy liked.

"Let's play truth or dare." He rubbed a hand over the back of his bristly scalp, grinning. Ivy frowned. Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn't that. From the silence that encompassed the room, she could guess that everyone else felt somewhat similar.

"Pinch me," 7 laughed finally, breaking the shocked silence.

"My sentiments exactly," 2 added, puffing more smoke out the window. 7 looked at him dubiously.

"You know what sentiments means?"

"Luckily for you, I'm not 6, so I won't give you a speech about how just because I'm Hispanic it doesn't mean I don't speak English," 2 drawled, flicking ash onto the blue carpet uncaringly.

"I'm game," 4 interrupted what could very well have developed into an argument. "I haven't played that since I was little."

"And what would you call what you are now?" 5 chuckled, eliciting a glare from 4.

"What are you, a twelve year old girl?" asked 2 rolling his eyes in 3's direction.

"Seriously, where did you come up with that?" 7 agreed, staring at the man curiously. "I never picked you as the truth or dare type."

"It was on the OC," he shrugged casually, not seeming the slightest bit embarrassed. 5 and 7 burst out laughing almost simultaneously, and 4 giggled in a loud high pitched tone. 2 just scoffed.

"I was wrong; you're not a girl, you're _gay_."

"I think it's a good idea," Ivy scowled at all of them. To be honest, that wasn't exactly what she thought of the plan, but she quite liked 3, even if he was ridiculously smart and intimidatingly muscular. He was nice, and he told good jokes.

"No you don't," 9 spoke up for the first time that afternoon, not bothering to look away from the TV. "You probably just had a fight with Ace and now you want someone to have sex with to make yourself feel better."

Ivy glared at the back of the girl's head, but didn't say anything in answer; she was starting to think that ignoring 9 was the best way to go.

"I'll play," said 7, grinning at 3. "It sounds like fun."

"Me too," Ivy agreed, and her and 7 exchanged grins.

"How 'bout it _Renee_?" 7 asked, pulling a face at 9, who was still looking at the TV.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Fine."

"Good."

7 crossed her legs, glaring daggers at the other girl, who didn't seem too fazed by it at all.

"Well, I suppose, if you two lovely ladies are playing, I can't say no," 5 shrugged at 7 and Ivy, even though he didn't move from his prone position on the couch.

"When you put it like that," 2 paused, the cigarette dangling limply from his mouth, "I guess I can stoop to tween girl level." He shrugged, dropping the still glowing

"Well that's everyone," smirked 7, a little fakely. "Everyone important anyway." The glare she redirected at 9 was lost on the girl who was studiously ignoring every other person in the room, especially, it seemed, 5 who had sat up and swung around on the couch to face the rest of the room. There was a moments silence as they all looked at each other waiting for something to start.

"Right, I'll go first," announced 4, much to the apparent disappointment of 2, who had obviously been hoping for someone slightly older to start. "Truth."

The other four players exchanged glances, seeming to try and telepathically convey what they were thinking to the others. 7 sighed.

"This is harder than I thought it would be," she muttered, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah, cause we have to keep it all PG and shit," grunted 2, evidently still pissed off that someone under the legal age of consent was being allowed to play the game. 4's hands clenched into fists and Ivy could see something bad about to happen.

"You stupid son of a bitch, mother fucking bastard!" the tiny girl yelled, "Stop treating me like a 5 year old, or I'll rip you ear off and shove it up your ass!"

3 and 5 chuckled simultaneously once again and Ivy hastened to try and calm the situation.

"Okay, I've got a question," she interrupted, trying to think on her toes, "Which of the Spades do you think is hottest?"

She realised what a ridiculous question it was after she had asked it. A seven year old girl could have done better. Would have done better actually, but Ivy had been rushed. 4 grimaced, but her fists unclenched, which Ivy took to be a good sign.

"What a yuck question." She rolled her eyes. "They're practically my brothers. Why would I think my brothers were hot."

"You still know which one's best looking you stupid little munchkin," 7 rolled her eyes right back.

"Well we all know who you think it is," 9 snorted from her seat, still not bothering to turn and face the group. 7 squeaked indignantly and reaching over beside her, grabbed a cushion and flung it at 9's head. It missed by a few centimetres and 9 chuckled. Clearly someone was in a bitchy mood that day, Ivy thought, eyeing her with disdain. She was starting to get a little sick of 9's attitude.

"If you want to talk, you can come and play," 7 retorted, "Otherwise shut up."

9's face stretched into a grin. "Actually, maybe I will. This whole thing's vaguely amusing."

7's glare grew even colder if that was possible. "Don't try and sound smart 9, we all know you're not." 9 didn't answer, just pulled a face and raised her middle finger belligerently at 7, finally turning to face the five seated in a somewhat malformed circle.

"Fine, you can go next then," 7 snapped, at 9 who smiled back sarcastically, looking unfazed.

"Fine. Dare," she replied, a note of challenge in her voice. The two girls stared at each other, in what was almost an unspoken fight, and Ivy could have sworn she felt a chill in the air. Finally, 7's expression changed into a vicious smirk.

"Alright. You have to take all your clothes off and play in your underwear, until it's your turn again." 9's eyes opened a little wider, but she kept her composure surprisingly well.

"No problem," 9 answered smoothly, standing and up pulling off her clothes, one by one, until she stood practically naked in front of all of them. 2 and 3 were both staring unabashedly at 9, who seemed to be either oblivious or was purposely ignoring them. 5 on the other hand, was averting his eyes in an almost gentlemanlike fashion which surprised Ivy to no end. She had thought if anyone was going to stare it would surely be him. 7 wasn't staring at 9's body, she was staring at her face, her eyes narrowed, and Ivy realised, with something that was almost excitement that the game was about to really start.

"3, your turn," 4 said, looking between 9, 7 and the boys disapprovingly.

"Uh, truth," he grunted, managing to tear his eyes off 9.

"If you were gonna..." 2 began, pausing and glancing at 4, "'_get it on_' with one chick in the house, who would it be?" It was actually surprisingly polite compared to what she would expect from him. Then again 3 was a guy, and he probably wasn't too interested in knowing about male fantasies.

3 seemed to think for a few seconds. "Probably 7," he shrugged, then looked at her adding, "I've just got a thing for blondes, you know?"

7 shrugged, but the smile on her face was a triumphant one, betraying her casual gesture.

"2, you go," 7 grinned, looking at the small Hispanic man amusedly.

"Truth is for fucking faggots, I'm going for dare," he announced, looking pointedly at 3, who gave him the finger. Almost before he got the words out of his mouth 7 cackled evilly.

"You have to give 4 a hickey," she screeched delightedly. Ivy burst out laughing, along with 5 and 3. 4's jaw dropped open in disgust and 2 started shaking his head vigorously.

"No fucking way, I ain't no paedophile," he snapped, holding up his hands defensively.

"Too bad, it's a dare, you have to."

"She's fucking 13-"

"I'm 15!" 4 interrupted, angrily, then seemed to have second thoughts, "But I still don't want _that_ thing sucking on any part of my body."

"Ugh," 2, shook his head again. "No way."

"It's that or you have to kiss 5," 9 joined in, seeming to take immense pleasure in upsetting 2. Both men let out loud yelps of disagreement.

"Fine, fine," 2 groaned, looking at 4, like he was going to puke. "Come here kid."

4 pulled the same face, and didn't move an inch. They were both leaning away from each other, in an almost comical fashion. Ivy almost felt bad for them, only... it was just _so_ funny. Besides, they both needed to man up. She had done far worse dares during her time in Beverley Hills. Now those girls knew how to be purely evil.

"Anywhere I want, right?" 2 asked, grimacing. 7 nodded, the malicious beam never leaving her face.

"Give me your wrist, kid, come on, hurry up." He looked like he wanted to die, as 4 gingerly held out her wrist, looking like she wanted nothing more than to run away.

"Fuck this is wrong," 2 muttered, before lowering his mouth to the girl's wrist and commencing to suck on it, far more viciously than was necessary. 4 yelped, and after a few seconds 2 let go of her, jumping up and walking over to the window to spit onto the sidewalk outside. 3 grabbed 4's wrist and raised his eyebrows.

"That's not a hickey, that's a bruise man," he told 2. 2 turned around, pointing a finger at 3, warningly.

"You better shut up, I'm not doing that shit again."

"Actually-" 9 began, but 7 cut her off.

"Fine, you don't have to, since it clearly caused you so much mental anguish," she said sarcastically, "5 you can go now."

"Truth," he answered quickly, and 2 glared at him.

"Which girl do you think would give the best blow jobs?" 3 asked, sounding like a mixture of amused and genuinely curious.

5 raised an eyebrow, eyeing 9, 7 and Ivy all thoughtfully. "Maybe..." he paused and scratched his head uncomfortably. "I'd have to say you Iv, 'cause you've probably had the most practice."

With that everyone burst out laughing, except for Ivy who gaped and him, crossing her arms over her chest angrily.

"On that note," 3 said, catching his breath, "it's your turn Ivy."

"Dare," she announced, still glaring at everyone in turn. It seemed the game was really just turning into a giant scowl fest.

"Kiss 5 for thirty seconds," 7 told her, her eyes still gleaming wickedly.

"With tongue," 2 added, winking at her. "You can show him why he picked you."

Ivy rolled her eyes. "Is that really the best you can do?" Sighing, she stood up and walked over to 5, who looked slightly bewildered. Kneeling on the couch and swinging one leg over him so she was straddling his waist, she bent down and pressed her lips firmly against his.

She had to admit, it was kind of odd kissing 5. It wasn't at all like kissing Ace, and honestly, Ivy thought that had to be one of the first times she had ever kissed someone and felt so indifferent. It wasn't that he was a bad kisser because he wasn't. He just didn't quite match up to what she was getting used to. Still, Ivy thought, might as well make the most of it.

She leaned down into the kiss and brought her hands up to his jaw, pulling him closer into her and twisting her tongue around his. It really was odd to feel so little chemistry, when kissing someone else. She decided she probably wasn't going to do it again anytime soon with anyone other than Ace. The kiss must have looked better than it felt because loud wolf whistles and cat calls erupted from the onlookers, and when she pulled away after thirty seconds, 2 was looking on a little enviously.

"Why couldn't you have dared me to do that instead of-" he glanced at 4, "-_that_."

"We did, remember," 7 told him, "We dared you to kiss 5 and you said you didn't want to."

2 laughed sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "You're so funny 7, teach me, please."

"9, it's your turn again," Ivy announced, and 3 groaned.

"Does that mean she can put her clothes back on?" he asked a little dejectedly.

"She has to do a dare first," 7 cut in, holding up her hands as though that was going to stop 9 from redressing herself.

'Fine, hurry up then, I'm cold."

7 gave another evil leer. "I dare you to make out with Ivy."

"Ew!" both of them said at the exact same time. 7 cackled, and there was completely silence from the male half of the circle.

"You have to or you can't put your clothes on for the rest of the day."

9 paused, and looked between Ivy and her clothes uncertainly. Eventually she looked at Ivy on what on anyone else could possibly have been described as imploringly, but on 9 just looked angry.

"Do you care?" Ivy sighed. "Because I don't care. It's just a kiss right?"

"Ew." 9 scowled, but then shook her head decidedly. "Fine. Whatever, let's get it over with."

"With tongue," 7 added, just for good measure. "And you have to act like you're enjoying it."

Both the girls grimaced, 9 even more so than Ivy. "Anything else, your majesty?" Ivy asked 7 sarcastically.

"For twenty seconds," 7 finalized, with a last innocent smile before her smirk returned.

Ivy scowled as she watched the still scantily clad 9 walking slowly towards her. She really didn't like the idea of making out with a barely dressed girl with five other people watching. But she hardly wanted 9 to blame her for not being allowed to put her clothes back on. Having 9 hate her was so not what she needed right then.

Stopping when their faces were only inches apart, both girls looked at each other dubiously.

"Remember to act like you're enjoying it," 7 repeated spitefully, and even though Ivy knew it was directed at 9 and not her, she still felt a little pissed off.

Grimacing, 9 leaned down a little further and pressed her lips gingerly against Ivy's. They stayed like that for a couple of seconds.

"With tongue," 7 repeated, a little louder. She seemed to be taking unfair amounts of vindictive pleasure from making others do things they didn't want to. Thinking about it, Ivy couldn't come up with something she would want to do less.

Sighing, Ivy opened her mouth and let her tongue drift out to meet 9's. She resisted the urge to gag, but by God it was hard. '_Act like you're enjoying it_'. The words flashed in Ivy's mind. No need to drag it out any longer than necessary, Ivy decided, reaching up and cupping the back of 9's head with her hands.

From 2's direction she heard a groan.

"Man, that is the hottest thing I have ever seen in my whole life," he breathed.

"Yeah," 5 answered, in a half dazed tone.

Groaning for a completely different reason, 9 jerked her face away from Ivy, who wiped a hand across her mouth revoltedly.

"That was the worst experience of my life," Ivy announced, grimacing.

"Me too," 9 agreed. "And I've been shot."

"Okay, moving right along," said 7 brightly, "2, truth or dare?"

"It's not my turn you retard," 2 told her.

"It is now," 7 told him, "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"I thought truth was for faggots," 5 chuckled, "There something you want to tell us, mate?" 2 gave him the finger.

"Have you ever fantasized about having sex with someone in the house?"

"And who was it?"

"7 and 9," he said casually, not seeming the slightest bit fazed that they were both pulling disgusted faces across the circle.

"Not Ivy _or_ Queen?" 5 asked, sounding more dubious than surprised.

"Nah. I don't like to think about chicks whose boyfriends can kick my ass."

"Yeah? What about if the girl can kick your ass herself?" 9 asked him, cracking her knuckles ominously. 2 just smirked.

"Masochistic. That's kinky. I like it." He winked, and 9 reached out a hand to smack him in the head. 7 snorted.

"5, you're turn." Somewhere along the way the order of turns had become severely messed up.

"Dare."

2 grinned almost as evilly as 7 and jumped to his feet.

"I'll be right back," he said, tipping an imaginary hat to them and sauntering from the room. He returned a couple of seconds later with a bunch of grapes in his hand, eliciting confused stares from every person in the room.

"Eat one," he said calmly. Ivy rolled her eyes. "Off her tongue." He pointed to 9. If she could have Ivy would have retracted the eye roll.

9 groaned. "Is everyone person in this house going to stick their god damn tongue in my mouth today?"

"He doesn't have to use his tongue," 2 told her casually chucking the grapes to her, "unless he wants to."

"Which he so does," 7 added unnecessarily. 9 didn't say anything, just eyed the grapes disgustedly.

"Hurry up, it's not that hard," Ivy put in her own two cents worth. Rolling her eyes once more, 9 opened her mouth placing the small piece of fruit mouth and sticking her tongue out slightly to make access to it easier for 5. Who didn't look too keen on making it easy for himself. Leaning closer to her, his open lips touched hers, in what was most definitely not an attempt to try and get the grape out, and from her angle, Ivy could unfortunately see his tongue slipping out to slide over hers, hooking under the grape and pulling it into his own mouth. He didn't stop there though, and instead, Ivy saw his hands come up to the back of her head and pull her face into his, clearly no longer bothered about the purpose of the dare. It wasn't long before the two of them were kissing properly, 5's hands twining into the mass of red hair that fell down 9's back, before suddenly he jerked away with a yelp, putting a hand to his mouth defensively.

"You fucking bit me!" 5 barked, putting a finger inside his mouth and pulling it out as though checking for blood.

"Told you not to touch me again," 9 said to him in a low voice, and Ivy remembered suddenly that this wasn't exactly the first time she had seen the pair kissing. 5 sat back, shaking his head, and 9 looked round the circle challengingly as though waiting for someone to say something so she could pounce on them and scream their heads off.

"Ivy, go," 7 said, waving her hands at the other girl hurriedly.

"Dare."

"Original."

"Thanks."

"Okay, I dare you to take off _all_ your clothes and run up and down the street."

Ivy raised an eyebrow. "It's the middle of the day."

7 raised hers back. "Exactly." Ivy grinned and stood up. It had been awhile since she'd done something quite this out there. To be honest she had kind of missed it.

"Excellent," she rose to her feet, and turned walking for the door, pulling off Ace's hoodie that she wore as she went. She heard the others scramble to follow her. Well, some more than others, she assumed. In the hallway, she lost her shoes, her socks, 7's jeans which were slightly too long for her and the short black tank top she had been wearing. By the time she got to the front door she was wearing nothing other than her underwear, which thankfully, was both hers and rather nice.

Opening the front door, she stepped outside, followed by mutters of "Oh my God, she's actually gonna do it," and "is she serious?"

Grinning wickedly Ivy turned around and shut the door behind her, then reached backwards for the catch on her bra. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she turned around. Only to find herself all of two inches away from Ace's chest. There was a few moments of silence, as the two of them stared at each other, Ivy looking shocked and Ace looking like, well, Ace. Finally, he spoke.

"Not that I'm complaining," he said, "But what the _hell_ are you doing?"

...

For what must have been at least the 500th time that week, Ivy found herself wandering the halls aimlessly. Most of the others had disappeared off to some meeting which she naturally wasn't invited to, and Ace was nowhere to be found; another thing which she was starting to grow accustomed to, actually. To be fair, she hadn't looked that hard, mostly because she assumed that even if she did find him, he'd be busy doing something which she would be -shockingly- excluded from.

Going up the stairs, she heard yelling coming from one of the rooms; the room that everyone had retired to in order to have their meeting. It sounded like one of the girls, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. Sighing, she turned and walked in the opposite direction, making for the next set of stairs which would take her up to the third floor. She followed the dark blue carpet up, trailing her hand across the banister and humming softly to herself.

As she walked down the wide, well lit hallway, she stopped. Coming from the room next to her she was sure she heard a voice and leaning a little closer, she recognised Ace's voice. Ivy reached out a hand to open the door, when something stopped her and leaning in further, she listened harder, to try and catch the words.

"A warehouse," Ace sounded exasperated. "A _warehouse_, do you speak fucking English?" There was a pause, and Ivy frowned, leaning in a little closer to try and hear more clearly.

"All I know is what she told me, which is practically nothing. That's why I'm talking to you." Whoever was on the other end of the line was clearly pissing Ace off, because he sounded like he was about to choke them.

"I don't care. I just want you to find him." Ivy's frown deepened. Who was he talking about?

"I didn't ask if it was hard, I told you to fucking do it," he snapped, followed by another pause.

"Because she wants to find him. He's just a kid, have some fucking compassion or something." Ace didn't sound like he was too worried about compassion. He sounded more like he was going to punch something. It was around then that something clicked in Ivy's brain.

Slowly, and cautiously she opened the door. It vaguely resembled a meeting room, with the long table and the chairs around it, only it was darker and seemed somehow more sinister. Ace was seated in one of the chairs, his feet kicked up on the table, glaring viciously at the wall opposite him. When Ivy opened the door, his eyes snapped to her, and she saw the momentary shock register in his eyes before he closed off.

"Fine, fine. I'll talk to you later," he said, his eyes never leaving her. "I have to go."

Without a moment's hesitation he put the phone down and gave her a slightly forced nod.

"Hey."

"Who was that?" she asked, walking over to where he was seated and sitting on the table in front of him. Grimacing, Ace put his feet down and sat up properly, looking away from her.

"Just a friend of ours," he shrugged, and Ivy raised an eyebrow sardonically.

"A friend?" She repeated. "Really?" Ace nodded, unflinchingly, looking back up at her.

"What were you talking about?" Like she needed to ask. She heard what they were saying, she knew who the topic of the conversation was.

"No one you know." For the first time since she had entered the room, he grinned and reached out a hand, placing it on her leg. "Don't worry about it."

"Really?" she asked, drawing absentminded patterns with her finger on the back of his hand, and up his arm, trying to seem casual. "Because for a second there, I could have sworn you were talking about my brother."

Ace didn't answer for a few seconds, just raised an eyebrow casually at her and moved a little closer, his thumb stroking delicately along the inside of her thigh. Involuntarily, she shivered, and he grinned.

"Really? I have no idea why." He shrugged at her, and his voice was the slightest bit lower.

"I just thought I heard some things," Ivy told him, her hand dropping off his arm. His hand had started to move higher and Ivy's breath hitched in her throat as she bit her lip. It was making it hard to focus, and Ace didn't seem to be too interested in her words anyway.

"Fuck you're hot when you get all out of breath like that," Ace chuckled, standing up. He took a step forward, so his legs were pressed against the edge of the table, sliding her legs apart so could stand in between them.

"I think we should talk," Ivy answered, her voice a little unsteady. Ace smirked wickedly, leaning forward, so his lips were pressed to her ear, and somehow, the gesture didn't hold the same romantic feeling it had had the day before. Now all it did was make it even harder for Ivy to breathe.

"I think we should fuck on the table," he muttered in her ear, his teeth lightly grazing her earlobe and a slight whimper escaped Ivy's lips. Her stomach was at the very moment doing somersaults, which made her feel half nauseous, and boiling hot at the same time.

"Okay," Ivy answered, throatily, leaning backwards, and pulling Ace's face to hers, their lips colliding with a force that most definitely would have hurt if she hadn't been past the point of caring. Their tongues were practically attacking each other, as they kissed furiously, Ivy's arms reach up to wrap around Ace's neck pulling him into her as hard as she could. Ace's hands meanwhile had slid off her legs and round to the bare skin between the low slung top of her jeans and the bottom of her shirt, forcing her hips against him almost viciously. Everything was so fast, and hungry and desperate, it was bordering on violence.

Ace's teeth pulled on Ivy's lower lip, and she tasted blood in her mouth, but ignored it. She didn't care how much blood she lost, as long as she didn't have to stop this. Inside her there seemed to be some kind of explosion going off, which got even worse as Ace's hands moved from her back, down underneath her, cupping her ass and jamming her so hard against him she could feel the imprint of the button on his jeans through her own. Moaning, Ivy wrapped her legs around his waist and moved her hands away from his neck, reaching down and tugging his shirt over his head, forcing their lips to break contact and both of them to groan, before his shirt was gone and their mouths reconnected.

Ivy leaned back, away from Ace, pulling her own shirt off, and she saw the glint in Ace's eye which made her heart beat even more erratically inside her chest. Under any other circumstances she might have thought she was having a heart attack.

Ace loosened his grip on her slightly, just enough to slide her back across the table and climb up on, with her, before his lips pushed themselves against Ivy's once again and they lay down, Ace's body pressing Ivy's against the hard wood of the table, her legs twisted around Ace as tightly as she could get them. One of Ace's hands moved from where it had been clutching onto Ivy's ass and slid up over the smooth skin of her stomach, and slipped inside her bra. Ivy groaned, almost embarrassingly loudly, her nails digging into the skin of Ace's back desperately, and she felt a small trickle of liquid under her fingers, which she ignored.

Ace's other hand then slid around to her front and snapped open her jeans, undoing the zip and then pushing them down over her hips, the fabric rubbing against her skin in a way that under any other circumstances would have hurt. She untwined her legs, and pulled them the rest of the way off herself, kicking them down to the end of the table, and then forcing her hand in between herself and Ace to try and reach the front of his jeans.

She wasn't sure whether it was the flipping of her stomach, or the lack of air that was getting to her lungs that was making her dizzy, but Ace's hand slipping round to her back to undo her bra wasn't helping it. She felt on the verge of passing out, but she didn't think that was from the dizziness. She arched up into Ace, grinding her hips into his and he groaned in response.

Finally, Ace's lips moved away from hers, allowing her to draw wild, gasping breaths in through her mouth as Ace sucked hungrily on her neck.

"Oh my God," Ivy groaned, her hands finally managing to undo Ace's jeans, while his head moved lower and bit along her collar bone, leaving dark purple marks, and on her shoulder, he even managed to draw some more blood.

"Fuck you're hot," he breathed, in between the kisses he was trailing up and down her neck. Ivy just groaned in response, as she felt her bra coming undone.

"Ace, are you- Holy shit!" that voice most definitely hadn't come from either one of them.

Ivy shoved Ace violently off her with a shriek, reaching over to grab her shirt and clutch it to her chest defensively.

"Man, I did not want to see that." 6 stood in the doorway, gaping at the two of them, as though he couldn't quite believe his eyes. Ivy glared at him.

"Do you want to fucking turn around?!" Ivy snapped at him, surprising even herself with her vehemence. 6 pulled a face, but averted his eyes.

Ace groaned. "Has anyone in this goddamn house heard of knocking?"

"Well how the hell was I supposed to know you'd be doing _that_?" 6 answered, sounding almost as pissed off as Ace. Ivy ignored the two of them, quickly reaching behind her and doing up her bra, then tugging her shirt over her head, and crawling over where her jeans were flung, standing up to wriggle back into them. She did them up, glaring at 6 who had stopped trying to ignore her and was unabashedly staring.

"You're back's bleeding," she told Ace, before raising her middle finger hostilely at 6 and storming from the room theatrically, shoving him out of the way as she went.

Behind her she heard Ace groan once more. "I swear to God, if I get interrupted one more time today I'm going to shoot someone."

Ivy scowled. Hopefully if he did, he'd go for 6.

* * *

**Okay, I'm so sorry. I've had this written for ages. I mean like two months. or maybe one. Whatever. I'd give you a great excuse but I don't have one. Super sorry, but I hope that you liked it.**

**I swear on my life that i'll get the next one up asap. It might be quite short but it'll be up soon.**

**Until then, much love.**

**xx**

**Bee**


	52. Ultimatum

_Ring, ring. Ring, ring_.

It was the phone again, ringing in the same sinister way it had been two days ago. Ivy checked the calendar on the wall, on which Queen liked to make notes of anything and everything important. It was Saturday. That only left one day until Sunday.

_Ring, ring._

She stared at it. Should she answer it? Or just let it ring until it stopped? That second one didn't seem like a bad option, but... She could hear footsteps coming down the stairs. What if it really was them calling and Ace or King answered the phone? After Ace's reaction last time, could she really trust him not to just hang up and lose any chance they might have had at finding out more about Mac? She was going to have to answer it.

Ivy inched towards the phone.

_Ring, Ring._

"Hello?" Ivy clutched the phone in both hands against her ear, her finger nails digging into her palms. Her spine was prickling and she could feel a cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.

"Hi, this is Bill from the new _Terravista_ company. I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time to talk to you about our new mobile plan?"

With a large sigh of relief, Ivy exhaled the breath that she hadn't even realised she was holding. Telemarketers? Who would ever known that people like that would call this house? She almost wanted to laugh at her own stupidity. Talk about overreacting.

"You know what Bill? Go ahead." Ivy was in a good mood. Good enough that she was even willing to listen to a telemarketer talk about mobile plans for the next twenty minutes. Relief could do that to a girl.

Admittedly after the first five minutes she was kind of wishing she had said no to start with, but she didn't really want to cut him off now, just when he was really getting into the swing of telling her all about the calling plan.

It took another five minutes for him to wrap it up and by that time Ivy's good mood had dissipated slightly. Not totally but just enough that when the phone rang again after hanging it up, she was a little annoyed.

She picked it up again, and forced a smile.

"Hello?"

"Hello Ivy. It's been a while." That wasn't Bill. In fact, Ivy was certain that it wasn't anyone even remotely close to a telemarketer. The voice was far too familiar for that. She might have only heard it once before, but you didn't forget a voice like that.

"What do you want?" The congenial tone was gone completely, replaced by the same prickly, nervous tone of two days ago.

"I take it you're alone then," the muffled voice said from the other end of the line, sending familiar chills down Ivy's spine. "That boy doesn't think much of protecting a little thing like you, does he?"

"Where's my brother? Is he there?"

"He's here, alright. Safe and sound just like we promised. Though whether he stays that way is entirely dependent on you, isn't it...?" He paused, as if to let the gravity of his words sink in. Then he chuckled. "Tell me, how did the wonderful Ace of Spades react when you told him about our little phone call?"

Ivy automatically jumped into lying mode. "I didn't."

"Don't lie to us now Ivy." There was even more muffled yelp from somewhere far away from the other end and Ivy flinched.

"Okay, I did. But he didn't believe me," she amended quickly. "He thinks I'm crazy and that you're crazy and it's just a joke."

The man laughed wryly again. "Do _you_ think that Ivy?" There was a loud scream that made her wince even through the receiver.

"No! I don't I swear, now stop hurting him!"

There was more cold laughter and the screaming stopped. "So you're still coming tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

Good. We'll be seeing you then." With that the line went dead again and Ivy put the phone down with a sick feeling in her stomach.

Behind her, she heard the sound of the door opening and she turned around to find Ace standing the doorway. He eyed her and the phone calmly, and his voice when he spoke remained totally casual; not at all like Ivy had been expecting.

"Who was that?" He looked away from her and over to the couch, which he walked over to and sat down.

Ivy didn't know why, but for some reason, standing there watching Ace she felt a little uncertain. Uncertain of his reaction and also uncertain of whether or not she actually wanted to tell him at all. The lie came out of nowhere, flowing effortlessly off her tongue in a manner reminiscent of the pre-Ace Ivy.

"Oh it was no one. Some guy from Terravista trying to sell some mobile thing. He just wouldn't stop talking. It was nothing to worry about. Nothing at all."

...

Ivy sat alone in her room for a long while, staring at the wall and tapping her fingers agitatedly against her thigh. She felt sick to her stomach with the thoughts of the things she might have to do. Worse, the things she was thinking now that she might have to do alone.

Until two days ago, she would never have considered this plan; it would have seemed insane to even think about it. You didn't just go off alone to some gang hideout, with no back up and no idea what you were getting yourself into. Not if you could help it anyway. But then, could she really help it?

Despite what she thought and what he had said, maybe Ace wasn't always going to be there. After all, here she was, in her time of greatest need and he didn't want to help. Well, maybe that wasn't true. It wasn't necessarily that he didn't want to, but he didn't believe her, and from the looks of it there was nothing she could do to make him.

She had considered, briefly that he could be right, but deep down she knew he wasn't. This was _her_ brother they were talking about, not some everyday run of the mill boy. She knew her brother when she heard him and there was no way in hell that she was going to risk leaving him, even if Ace was right.

And who knew, maybe he was. Maybe she would get there and they'd kill the two of them anyway, because that was how it worked sometimes, but that would be eternally better than living with the guilt she would feel if something happened to him and she wasn't there.

Really, there wasn't a lot of choice. She was going to have to go, regardless of what Ace said, because she knew that he was there and she knew that it was because of her and most importantly she knew she had to try because it wouldn't be worth living if she didn't.

She didn't blame Ace for trying to stop her. God knew, she understood it. She wouldn't want him heading into serious danger to try and save someone, but then again, it wasn't quite the same situation. He would have back up and skills and knowledge that she didn't have and that was something that, with the instructions and limited amount of time that she had, she couldn't do anything about.

Maybe there were other things she could have done. Maybe she could have tried harder to convince him. Only, she was too scared that bringing it up again would remind of something which it seemed like maybe he had forgotten and then where would she be? Stuck in the house with someone watching over her all night so she didn't sneak off while he wasn't looking.

Of course, if he believed her, things would be different. They could go together, sort everything out and get back home safe and sound. As it was though, he didn't even want to check it out himself, which left with somewhat limited options. This was do or die now. As long as she got Mac back, everything would be fine. They could come back to the house and Ace would see that he was wrong and everything would be good again. Because that was the way it worked and she didn't want to think about any of the other options.

Naturally, she was a little disappointed in Ace. Here she was telling him something and he wouldn't even consider it, but she didn't care about any of that anymore. She didn't want to be mad at him when she left, she wanted to be good. She wanted to go back to how everything before two days ago, before she felt totally isolated. It amazed her that she could be in this house full of people who she liked, who, she hoped, liked her and still feel so cut off. Like even though this was where she wanted to be, she suddenly felt out of place. The gap between her and the rest of the house members had never been so large as it felt right then.

But that was all fine because it could be fixed once Mac was there. That was really all she needed. Ace would forgive her for going behind his back and not telling him everything when it all worked out. Things would be good again and her and Ace could be happy again and most importantly, she could apologise to the one person who meant more to her than anything else in world for doing everything she had done to him and getting him caught up in the middle of something which he should never have been a part of.

And then, once that was all done, they could start again, the three of them. A new life, without the violence and the war and the anger that was such a big feature in all of their lives at that moment in time. They could get away and build new lives; her and Ace and Mac, together at last, just how it was meant to be.

...

The room she was headed for now was an unfamiliar one. She had only been in it once before, when those crazy men had stormed the house, before Ace got back. She remembered it reasonably clearly though. Most importantly, Ivy remembered the guns, covering the walls. She might not be the best shooter in the world, but she wasn't stupid. There was no way she was going into this unarmed.

She checked each hallway before turning down it, slipping round the corners as quietly as she could. As far she knew, everyone else was asleep, since it was nearly three am, but she wasn't going to take any chances. If she got caught now she was done for.

She followed the carpeted steps up to the third floor, counting the doors on the right, until she got to it. She checked the hall one last time for any sign of life, silently praying that she hadn't remembered wrong or worse, that it was locked.

She laid her hand lightly on the cool chrome doorknob and turned. It opened with a soft click, and Ivy saw the familiar sight of the many rows of guns. Some were in glass cabinets, some rested carelessly on the table and many others hung from hooks on the walls. The only places without some kind of weapon on them were the two windows on the right wall, which showed a dismal view of the grimy looking city spread out around them. From the slightly off colour hue that the outside buildings had, Ivy guessed the windows were tinted, so anyone looking up would only see black glass and nothing of the fortune in arms inside the room.

Taking a deep breath, Ivy drifted quietly over to the nearest wall, and took down one of the smaller guns, weighing it in her hands and turning it over to examine it. After a couple of seconds study, she put it back on the wall and reached up a little higher for a slightly larger one.

She felt the cool metal touch her fingers and had it grasped lightly in her right hand, when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Her heart leapt from the left side of her chest up into her throat, and she opened her mouth to scream.

Behind her, the owner of the hand spoke.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?"

It was the haunting tenor voice of the one person in the house who she would least want to see on a dark, scary night like tonight.

Turning around, ever so slowly, she stared at the man, while 7's creepy twin brother eyed her back, coldly. Ivy glanced at the gun in her hands then at the man in front of her uncertainly, at a loss for words.

"I would advise answering the question," he said softly, his voice barely rising above a whisper, yet still piercing her right through. "Unless of course, you want me to go and ask Ace what you're doing out of bed at such a late hour?"

Ivy narrowed her eyes at him. "How did you know I was here?" she hissed, trying to keep her voice at an inaudible level and get her erratically beating heart back under control.

"I heard you," he answered, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"It's not what it looks like," Ivy told the young man uncertainly, looking around her as though looking for some other excuse for being in the room.

"Really?" He smiled a chilly smile. "Are you not in here looking for a gun so you can go out tomorrow at night in say-" He checked his watch, although it was obvious it was just for show, "-20 hours, in order to save a certain long lost sibling of yours?"

Ivy gaped at him. "How did you know that?!" she hissed a little too loudly, making her start slightly and look around once again, this time for any sign of life which hadn't previously been there. She couldn't hear anything and after a few seconds she untensed and looked back at 8.

"How did you know that?" she repeated, more quietly.

"I have my sources."

"Look..." Ivy sighed and placed the gun gently down on the table, "You can't tell Ace about this, alright? I know you're probably going to anyway, no matter what I say, but I'm asking you-"

"I don't think you quite understand my intention in being here," he said slowly, thoughtfully, clasping his hands behind his back. Ivy raised an eyebrow at him.

"Really?"

"Really. In a way, I suppose I sympathise with you. Was I in your position, I believe I would do exactly the same thing for my sister." He frowned. "Then again, that's not quite the same situation, but that's neither here nor there. The point is, I can see why you might think this is a good idea."

"Hold on, so let me get this straight." Ivy paused while she thought through what 8 had just told her. "You're _not_ going to stop me?"

"Most probably not."

"And you're not going to tell Ace?"

"At this moment I have no intention of doing so. That is however, entirely dependent on you." The words were almost an exact repeat of the words of the man on the phone today and Ivy winced slightly when the memory came to her.

"I'm not following," she whispered, running a hand through her hair uncomfortably. She didn't like being alone in a room with 8 in the middle of the night, even if she was only a few meters away from probable help. He was eerie, in a way which made her nervous and fidgety around him.

"I want to help you. But you'll have to do something for me in return." This was turning into some bad crime movie scene and Ivy didn't like it.

"Like what?" she asked softly, her fingers lacing together in front of her.

"I empathise with you Ivy. I want to give a proper chance to help your brother, since I see that you intend to do this with or without Ace's help. I understand what it's like to want to protect a brother or sister and I want to help you do that. All I propose in return is that you extend me the same courtesy."

Ivy frowned, still not quite grasping what he meant. He seemed to realise this, as he continued.

"If you manage to find your brother-"

"Which I will," Ivy interrupted him, and he gave a wry smile which made her even more uneasy.

"Yes well, that remains to be seen. As I was saying, should you manage to find and... _retrieve_ your brother safely, don't come back here afterwards. Leave the city, go somewhere far away from here and don't come back."

Ivy gaped at him. "Why would you want that?"

8 sighed, a little exasperatedly, and a little too loudly, making Ivy flinch again. "Please understand that it's nothing personal. This request has nothing to do with my personal feelings towards you, which I can assure you are for the most part indifferent. What I ask is purely in the hope of protecting my sister from any more harm than is necessary."

"I don't understand what this has to do with 7."

8 sighed again. "For someone who seems so sure of herself, you're very naive. It appears that you're completely unaware that your actions, whether they succeed or fail, will have major ramifications for everyone involved, not just you and your brother. Just because he's safe, it doesn't mean that life ends for the rest of us. If you get your brother and bring him back here, mass warfare is bound to break out between the two sides involved. You can't take from people without expecting to give back. After this, whoever has him will be out for blood, and I doubt they'll be too fussy about whose it is. You bring him back here and you put everyone in the house at risk. I don't plan on allowing my sister to be caught in the crossfire."

8 fell silent, watching Ivy closely. She could feel his gaze burning into her and it sent chills down her spine.

"And if I say no, would I be right in guessing you'll tell Ace?" Ivy whispered, after a few seconds thought. 8 seemed to consider this before speaking.

"No. I don't suppose I would. But you'll have a tough time getting out of here without my help; Ace is going to have his eye on you until this Sunday deadline passes. I can make it much easier for you. And then of course..." he paused and reached over to the gun, running a finger over it lightly, "there's the obvious things I can help you with. Such as choosing a gun that actually works."

He placed his finger on the trigger and pulled it back towards him. There was no noise, not even the clicking of an empty gun. Ivy sighed.

"So let's clarify," she said. "You help me get out of here and save my brother and in return, I get as far out of town as I can, and never mention that I know any of you ever again?"

8 nodded. "Precisely. Of course, I can get you all of the necessary things you need tomorrow before you leave. Money for instance, to tide you over until you get wherever it is that you're going."

Ivy stopped again and looked down at her shoes, running over the plan in her head. Theoretically, it sounded good, except for the two major problems. The first being that she had nowhere to go. They would have to last as long as they could on whatever 8 gave them and then go from there. Then there was the other thing...

"I'll never see Ace again," Ivy breathed, softly, her fingers tightening their grasp on each other. Her heart lurched sickeningly at these words, as if her body was rejecting them.

"No," 8 said, and there was the slightest hint of understanding in his smooth voice.

"I won't even be able to say goodbye," she whispered, her voice barely audible, even to herself, despite the dead silence. The man shook his head. She looked back up at him, blinking back the tears that were threatening.

"Alright." Her voice cracked halfway through the word and so it came out as only a squeak. "Alright."

"Very admirable." 8 nodded, gently. "It'll be a shame to see you go."

Ivy swallowed hard and shut her eyes to try and ground herself again. Her voice, when she spoke, was uneven and thick sounding. "So, how do we do this?"

...

**Talk about freaking speedy, aye? **

**lol, this is reminiscent of me before I turned into an evil cow who never updates.**

**That's about all I have to say actually.**

**Except, Miss Paparella, do I ever tell you how frigging wonderful you are? I mean you _always_ review. ALWAYS. You're a bloody miracle. But seriously, without all the gay New Zealand words and etc. You are amazing and thank you so much, because you've been there since like the very start and now it's almost the very end and you're still here. So you rule. Thank you eternally.**

**much love**

**xx**

**Bee**

**Ps. next chapter's almost finished. Not wanting to jinx it or anything.**

**PPS. Phiz, I don't know if you're reading this, but if you are, FUCK YOU'RE LUCKY YOU TAKE BIO. And no, I didn't just accidentally hit the caps lock button. Physics is evil. I want to take a fricking machete and kill it. chem, i actually like, but exams still suck and whatever.**

**Okay. I'll shut up now.**


	53. The great escape

**Exams. That's my excuse. I'm sticking to it. hate me if you will :(:(**

**God, what an uncool sentence.**

* * *

That Sunday was the longest day of Ivy's life. It was amazing how time seemed to drag out when one's whole life was on the verge of falling apart. Suddenly everything seemed to take on new meaning. When Queen smiled at her as she passed her on the stairs, when 2 started throwing paper planes at everyone and one got tangled in Ivy's hair, when 4 reached up on her tippy toes to ruffle Ivy's hair after one of 3's particularly bad jokes made her choke on her glass of water. All of the actions seemed so personal, so important, and with a sense of dread Ivy came to realise all of the things she was going to lose after that night.

It was odd knowing that no matter the outcome of an event, the result would be the same. Knowing that in order to save one thing she would have to lose everything else. It was that knowledge which made her heart twinge a little bit every time anyone spoke to her, or looked at her, or even mentioned her name in passing. And yet she knew she didn't really have a choice. Not about this, not when it came to her own flesh and blood. That was something she wasn't willing to give up on, especially when her little brother had tried so hard not to give up on her.

Some of the others seemed to notice something was a little off. 4 kept shooting her worried looks, and when she tottered off down to the basement for what she had called 'magnesium therapy' she had invited Ivy along. Ivy had followed after her, but when she realised that the true meaning of the 'therapy' was to blow things up with a light that apparently permanently burned your retinas if you looked at it, she had slipped back out again. Quality time with 4 was nice, but then again, so was the full use of her eyes.

7 had even offered to take a break from whatever it was her and 8 had been doing to fix her hair up again; an offer which Ivy had quickly taken her up on. The pale regrowth had started up again and her Cruella DeVille look was coming back.

7 had made girly small talk at first, about her own hair, 9's hair and the clothes she was planning to buy the next time she went shopping. Ivy nodded along and listened and smiled in all the right places, because she was so glad to have someone who still sounded like a normal person around her. When 7 came out with her next sentence, though, Ivy's blood froze cold in her veins.

"I know what's going on, you know," the girl suddenly chirped from where she was painting dye onto strands of Ivy's hair.

Ivy gave a fake, forced chuckle. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh please, don't act dumb with me Ivy. You know who you're talking to right?"

Ivy watched the other girl nervously in the mirror. It would make sense if she knew. After all 8 was her brother, why wouldn't he tell her what was going on? But then, wouldn't she be angry, if he had told her the whole story? Either way, she was going to have to say something, and soon.

"I didn't realise he had told anyone," she answered finally, uneasily.

"He didn't need to, it was so obvious. I have a radar for these kinds of things."

Ivy frowned. "Um... _Really_?" She wasn't aware that you could have a 'sneaking to go and rescue a younger brother who was kidnapped by a gang' radar.

"Totally, I knew from the second I saw you."

"Look, he doesn't really want me to talk about it," Ivy told 7, a little uncomfortably. The night before, 8 had told her to keep all of this on the down low and that after the plan worked, she was never to talk about the two of them again. She wasn't sure if that included talking to 7, but it seemed like a good idea to hedge her bets.

"That's so stupid." 7 rolled her eyes. "Like we weren't going to notice anyway."

"I suppose we didn't think that far ahead," she admitted, realising that actually, it was slightly stupid.

"What I want to know, is what the two of you plan to do with the thing? I mean, this is house isn't exactly the ideal spot for baby raising if you know what I mean.

Ivy stopped dead in her tracks.

"Hold on, what did you just say?"

"Well, maybe you think about it differently, but personally I wouldn't be bringing my kid within one hundred miles of the city, let alone this house."

"What _kid_ are you talking about?"

7 stopped and frowned at Ivy. "Well yours of course. You and Ace's. Unless..." 7 gaped at her and Ivy stared back a little bewildered.

"7, I'm _not_ pregnant! Not at all."

"Oh... but I just thought-"

"Why, do I look like I'm pregnant?" Ivy gaped, suddenly realising the possible implications of the mistake.

"No! God, no. I just thought, you know, I saw you in the bathroom this morning and I put two and two together..."

Ivy grimaced. She had been doing some extremely unpleasant dry retching that morning in the bathroom, but she was fairly sure that it had nothing to do with an unplanned pregnancy.

"I just felt sick. Normal sick, not freaking morning sickness."

"Oops," 7 said, but Ivy could see her grinning in the reflection. Ivy didn't really feel like grinning. She had never thought about her and Ace having kids but under other circumstances, it would have she thought, been quite a nice idea. Now all it did was remind her that there was no way that was ever going to happen.

7 seemed to sense she had said something that wasn't to Ivy's liking, because she stopped grinning.

"Sorry. You don't look pregnant, honestly," she supplied and Ivy sighed before smiling a little wistfully.

"Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter."

7 frowned a little. "Are you alright Ivy? Something seems a little off with you today."

Ivy bit her lip and shook her head, in her best reassuring manner. "I'm fine. Honestly. I'm just feeling a little under the weather."

The girls exchanged glances, there was a moment of silence and then 7 grinned again. "I can't believe you just said 'under the weather'. You sound like an 80 year old man." Both of them laughed, 7 a little louder than Ivy, who couldn't get the thoughts out of her head about how much she was going to miss this tomorrow and in a month and in a year, when she had moved on and away. It made her heart ache a little.

The moment when it really hit her came in the early evening, when Ivy was finally forced into facing the one person she had been dreading looking at all day. It seemed odd that she could go days without seeing him for more than five minutes and now she had to go out of her way not to pass him in the halls, in case she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. And she had to be able to hold back the tears, or everything was done for.

"Hey babe." Ace smiled a beautiful half grin at her when she walked into the longue he was sitting in with 10. The babe hurt a little bit more than she had expected it too. He hardly ever said it and now he chose the one time when she didn't want to hear it.

"Hey." Her voice sounded too sentimental, giving away too much of the sadness. She forced a smile. "What are you doing?"

"Just talking." He shrugged noncommittally.

"What about?"

"About 9 finding her one true love," 10 told her theatrically. Ace snorted and Ivy smiled, more at the normalness of it than anything else.

"Must be the Australian charm," Ace retorted sarcastically and 10 chuckled.

"He probably thinks she's a sheep. I can see why he'd be confused, with that hair."

Ace frowned. "Isn't that New Zealanders?"

10 raised an eyebrow back at him. "Where?"

Ace shrugged. "Who knows? Are you going to sit down, or just stand there and stare at us?" he asked, turning to look at Ivy. She blinked a few times, trying to snap out of her daze and smiled again.

"Right, sorry I was just... Sorry." She walked over quickly and sat down. She was on the same seat as Ace, but for some reason, she felt this need not to be near him in case she lost it completely. When he reached out and slung an arm around her, pulling her into his side, her heart did a sudden lurch and she reached up a hand automatically to clasp his, maybe a little tighter than necessary. His hand was warm and familiar and she wrapped her fingers around his tighter, because despite the initial feeling, it felt really good to have Ace touching her.

He glanced at her for a millisecond, like he knew something was a little strange, but then looked back to 10. The other man grinned.

"Do you think she'll be a little less heinous now that she's getting some?" he asked Ace who laughed loudly next to Ivy's ear. She smiled, and slid a little closer into him.

"Probably not. She'll probably go into bitch overdrive to try and throw everyone of the trail."

"Sneaky."

"That's 9 for you."

It seemed ridiculously odd to Ivy, that she could be sitting in the middle of this totally normal conversation and still feel like it was the most momentous discussion she had ever heard in her life. That she could be touching Ace's hand, which she touched all the time, and feel like it was some brand new, once in a life time opportunity.

It was impossibly strange to her, all the meanings that small things took on when you knew that you were never going to see them again. Like the way that Ace ruffled his hair when he was thinking, and the way he did his beautiful half grin when he said something he thought was funny.

Strange and ridiculous and yet somehow, kind of beautiful. In a way, she was almost glad she knew it was ending. It was like getting a second shot at life. Getting the chance to appreciate everything the way she should have the first time round. It was nice to know she could make memories before she left.

At dinner that night, she watched everyone almost as though she was watching people she didn't know. She saw the way 4 poked 10 constantly in arm, annoying him in the most sisterly way she had ever seen. She saw a intense glance Queen shot at King over the top of her glass, which was peculiarly full of water instead of wine, and the way he swallowed a little harder than usual, as though he was trying to focus on something other than her. She even saw the way 2 laughed a little uneasily at the horrible joke 1 told because no one else did and he seemed to have a bit of a soft spot for the boy. She had never seen the nice side to the small, crazy man before and it was nice to get even a glimpse of it before the end.

She held onto Ace's hand on top of the table, lacing her fingers with his and trying to memorise the feel of his skin on hers as she ran her fingers over the slightly hardened skin on his palms and felt the gentle, slow beating of his heart all the way down in his fingertips. The fingertips that belonged to her, and the hand, and the _heart_ that as far as she knew, was hers too.

When it was nearing quarter past eleven, they walked up the stairs together. When they reached Ivy's room, she pulled him to a stop.

"Well, this is me," she announced, a little throatily, because the nerves and the emotions were starting to kick in at the same time. Ace grinned at her.

"What is this, a hotel?"

Ivy smiled at him, and clasped his other hand in hers as well. "I'm tired, I should get some sleep."

"Alright. I'll see you in the morning."

"Alright." It was so casual, and Ivy felt almost sick to her stomach as the words kept coming so easily out of her mouth.

Ace began to loosen his grip on her a little, and in response she clutched him tighter, terrified as the sudden gap between their hands allowed the cold air to touch her skin.

Ace frowned a little. "Are you okay?"

Ivy didn't speak, because all of a sudden she didn't trust her voice. Instead she leaned up and kissed Ace, hard, hoping that maybe if she kissed him hard enough they could just melt into one person and none of this would have to happen. When she pulled back enough to breathe, she could feel the pressure behind her eyes from the tears building up. Ace smiled.

"How tired are you exactly?" he chuckled, but Ivy hardly heard him.

"You know I love you right? So, so, so much." She breathed, her forehead resting against Ace's in the most unbearably close manner.

"Okay. Is there some reason you're saying this now?"

"No," she whispered back, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat. "I just don't think I tell you enough."

Ace's frown was evident now. "Rocky, what's going on?"

"Nothing Ace. It's nothing, really." The lump was getting too much. She could feel the tears starting to build up in her eyes. "I should get some rest. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

She didn't wait for an answer, turning and slipping into her room and shutting the door behind her.

She didn't want to cry. It seemed like such a stupid, pointless thing to do, but despite herself she couldn't help it. She covered her mouth with her hand to try and contain the sound, until she heard Ace's footsteps traipsing away from her door and then she flopped onto the bed and let it out as quietly as she could. In a way, she almost wished the day hadn't been as perfect as it was. It seemed insane that everyone would choose this one day to be nice to her. That or she was being ridiculously emotional. No, that wasn't it; if anything was worth crying over it was Ace. God knows, she had done it enough times already.

After the tears had subsided and all that was left was puffy red eyes, blurred by the remnants of the water, Ivy rose slowly to a sitting position on the bed. She needed to pull herself together. She only had about half an hour and in that time she needed to get ready to go.

Wiping a hand across her cheeks, she sniffed and went over to her drawers. Opening the top one, she found it stuffed full of neatly folded black shirts. There were polo shirts, singlets, T Shirts, everything. She snorted bitterly. Trust Jack. She lifted them up, to look underneath for what 8 had informed her would be there.

Sure enough, hidden under a charcoal sweater, she felt cool metal touch her finger tips and clasped her hand around it, pulling it out to reveal a gun. Lifting up the shirt next to it she saw the green flash of money. She pulled the shirt out and chucked it on the ground. There was an average amount, nothing more than what she had expected. She was just about to shut the drawer, when she saw a green corner sticking up from between two of the shirts. Frowning, she reached down and pulled on it, and not just one bill, but a whole roll of them came out. Ivy raised her eyebrows and began to tug out shirt after shirt, revealing the last thing she had expected. The entire bottom of the drawer was layered with rolls of money, stacked in two layers. Somehow, she doubted that 8 had put them there.

Glancing behind her –futilely of course because there was no one there- she pulled them out one after the other and threw them onto the bed. If it had have been anyone else's room she would have felt guilty, but it served Jack right. He may not have killed her brother like he said he did, but he was still an asshole. Besides, it wasn't like he would have any use for it now.

Giving her eyes a final wipe, she slipped out of her clothes and rooted through the pile on her floor for the black jeans she had been wearing two days ago and pulled them on, followed by one of 7's black T shirts and one of the sweaters she had thrown on the ground before. Then, thinking on her feet, she picked up another one of Jack's thin shirts and shoved all the money into the middle of it, pulling the edges up and tying them together to make a sort of makeshift bag.

A few minutes later there was a soft tapping on the door, followed by a clicking sound as the handle was turned and 8 slid through the gap. He glanced at Ivy and rolled his eyes a little.

"You're looking very..." He paused. "Black."

"Subtlety never hurt anyone now did it," she answered, lifting up her shirt and shoving the gun in between her hip and her jeans. It dug into her skin, hard but she ignored it.

8 nodded. "True enough. Are you ready to go?"

She nodded.

"Good. Right now 10's down in the lounge, 'watching TV'" he mocked. "He's actually making sure no one gets in or out of the house. I'll distract him and when I have, I'll give you some kind of signal. It'll be some loud noise, like dropping a glass or something. After that you have roughly twenty seconds to get out of here. You'll need these."

He tossed a set of keys to her, and they jangled loudly as they flew through the air before landing safely in her palm.

"It's the black one nearest to the exit. Try not to do anything stupid."

"Like crashing?"

"Yes. That would classify as stupid."

"Okay."

He sighed and walked for the door, turning just before he slipped outside. "Good luck Ivy. You're going to need it."

She nodded. "Thank you."

He shrugged, and then slipped back through the door without another word.

Ivy sat down on the bed, trying to calm the churning in her stomach. It felt a lot like what she thought someone would feel like before a performance, or maybe before they ran a race at the Olympics. She could now officially say she had been as nervous as that. Nothing really beat risking your life to go and save your kidnapped little brother.

She clutched the shirt full of cash in her hands, which were starting to get clammy, toying with the loose bits of fabric at the top of the knot. She felt like she was going to be sick. Or maybe faint. It could have gone either way. And that was when she heard it.

Downstairs, a door slammed.

For a few seconds, she sat still, blinking and trying to stop herself from throwing up on the carpet. Then suddenly it hit her that she was wasting time, and as quickly as she could, she tip toed to her door and opened it softly, half running, half creeping down the hallway to the top of the stairs. Looking down, she could see the light on in the lounge, just like 8 had said, a crack of it snaking out from the slightly open doorway. She crept down the stairs, which was surprisingly difficult in the dark.

She was halfway across the room when she heard the footsteps behind her coming down the stairs. Her heart leapt right up into her throat and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead. It was still dark; whoever it was might not have seen her. But she was right in the middle of the room and there was no way she could get to the door without making a noise.

The footsteps were getting closer. Whoever it was, was halfway down the stairs by now. It wouldn't be long until they turned a light on. She had to get out of sight. As quietly as she could, she inched forward and slid around behind the large white sofa near the wall. Only seconds later, the person reached the floor and flicked on the lights.

Ivy peaked ever so cautiously around the corner of the sofa. It was 9, her hair sticking up in random directions as though she had just been woken up, which come to think of it now, she might well have been. She glanced around the room briefly, and for a second Ivy's heart froze, but 9 just blinked blearily a few times then frowned and walked over to the lounge door.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she snapped, flinging the door open and walking inside. "Do you not realise some people in this house actually like to sleep?!"

"You're the one yelling." Ivy heard 10's voice from inside the room, but she couldn't see him. She took a second to think things over.

She could try and make a run for it now or she could wait until 9 left. There were a lot of negatives about both and not a whole lot of positives for either. If she got caught now then her and 8 were both screwed. But if she stayed then 9 would leave and she would have to try and get out past 10 who would be back on high alert.

9 walked a little further into the room, still snapping at the two men. She was facing away from the door, but chances were the others were looking at her. If she went now then they would definitely see her. But she could always wait, until someone else was talking and then make a quick run for it. She sighed. From the looks of it, that was what she was going to have to do.

She began to inch forward, towards the side of the couch furthest away from the other three people, ducking down behind the arm and waiting. If someone else came down the stairs now she was done for.

With that thought, 9 stopped talking and 8's soft voice cut into the conversation. Ivy saw 9's head flick in his direction. She was going to have to do it now, and just hope that 10 wasn't looking.

Taking a deep breath, she began to crawl on fours across the floor, as quietly as she could. If 9 turned around now she would kill her. The make shift bag in her hand was slowing her down a lot and she considered dropping it but decided against it, since it had all the money in it, which was somewhat important.

Inside, 8 was still talking, but Ivy didn't look up to see if 9's attention was still on him. Instead she crawled even faster. She was only meters away from the door now. In another five seconds she would be there. She just had to stay quiet. Only two more meters now. And that was when she heard it.

There were more footsteps. They were coming from over in the direction of the stairs. Ivy turned to look, but didn't stop crawling. There was no one there yet, but from the sound of it, there would be soon.

She was only a meter away from the door now. It was so close she could almost touch it. Behind her, she heard a creak as the person rounded the corner at the top of the stairs. And with that, Ivy threw herself the last 30 centimetres at the open and door, scrambling through into the blessed darkness just as a voice sounded above her.

"What's with all the damn yelling? It's not that time already is it?"

Ivy climbed to her feet, her breath coming in short sharp, gasps as she tried to regain her composure. She tuned out the words as she slowed her breathing. That was Ace standing up there. He had been all of one second away from catching her. She felt sick to her stomach.

With one final glance over her shoulder, she turned and scurried along the dark hallway to the door leading out into the garage. She opened the door as silently as she could, and then made sure to shut it behind her, in an attempt to muffle any of the noise from the starting car.

She looked around her. The car 8 had described sat, gleaming in the bright golden light of the garage, right in front of the closed door. She walked over to it and ran a hand over the paint. Hopefully it was as quiet as it was pretty, or she was screwed.

She reached up above her and pressed the button next to the garage door. It opened with only a low humming sound that he doubted could be heard from the room next door, let alone right down the hall. Crossing her fingers, and pressing her hands together in a swift prayer, she climbed into the car, throwing the bag in her hand on the back seat and pushing the keys into the ignition. Wincing slightly, she turned them.

The car buzzed to life. Not roared, buzzed. Softly, nearly without a sound- by car standards anyway- and Ivy breathed a massive sigh of relief. She pulled out of the garage and started on her drive in the direction of the harbour.

...

The third warehouse on the docks. That was what he had said. Sitting outside it in the gleaming red BMW, she would have begged to differ. From the looks of it there was absolutely nothing going on inside that place. It looked exactly the same as the ones on either side of it; grey and lifeless.

Perhaps she had got the wrong place. Maybe she shouldn't go in, in case it was an actually storage place and she tripped some alarms. Maybe she should just go home. Or maybe, she was being pathetic and trying to think of excuses not to go inside because she was scared out of her mind.

Ivy pinched herself on the arm to try and reground herself and blinked decidedly.

"Come on Ivy," she muttered under her breath, trying to ignore the churning in her stomach. She hadn't eaten a whole lot that day, which she was thinking might turn out to be a good thing. She reached down to her waist and touched the gun briefly to reassure herself. If anything went wrong, she always had the gun. Taking another deep breath, which did absolutely nothing to calm her nerves, she got out of the car, shoving the keys in her pocket and leaving the door unlocked in case she had to make a quick exit.

"You can do this," she repeated steadily to herself, over and over again as she walked closer to the giant drab looking building which apparently housed the most important thing in her entire world. She walked right over to the door and pressed her ear against it.

Nothing.

Ivy gulped. Just in case of an emergency, she reach a hand down to her waist and pulled out the gun, clasping it tightly to reassure herself. Then, because she knew she was going to have to do it sooner or later, she reached up and pushed open the heavy corrugated iron door.

The room was very nearly empty, and almost pitch black, except for dim patches of light in the centre of the room, coming from windows high above her. Over against the walls there was old furniture and stacks of boxes, which were barely visible since it was so dark. Directly opposite her she could see a similar door to the one she had just entered. There was no movement, and from the looks of it, no one was here. Ivy checked her watch.

12.10. She was ten minutes late already, so why was no one here? Her stomach knotted uncomfortably, and she swallowed loudly. Lifting the gun up in front of her, she clasped it with two hands, like a shield between her and anyone coming towards her.

"Hello?" she called out uncertainly. Was it a safe thing to do, to call for them? It sure as hell didn't feel safe. There was a creaking from the roof up above her and other than that, there was silence.

"Hello?" she repeated, her voice still quavering on the second syllable in the word.

Then she heard a creak, coming from her right. Jumping, she spun around and pointed the gun in the direction, her eyes darting around, trying to see behind the stacks of boxes by the walls, looking for movement. She couldn't see any and then another creak came from directly behind her. She spun back around, holding then gun at arm's length, narrowing her eyes to try and find the person making the noise. Again, she saw nothing, but she was sure she heard someone giggle in a high pitched, girlish voice.

"Who's there?" she yelled, trying to sound tough, but only succeeding in sounding even more terrified.

Once again, there was no answer.

"This isn't funny!" Ivy called, swivelling her head around to check both sides of her again. Ever so slowly, she began to walk forwards. She stopped right in the center of the room, when she stood in a small square of light being filtered down from the windows high above her.

She was just about to take another step, when a sudden, loud banging sounded from the end of the warehouse which she had been walking towards. It was the sound of a door flying open. She froze and held up the gun again. Much to her alarm, her hands were shaking profusely and she tried to steady them, to no avail. Three men strode in through the door, all wearing black and with hair cropped closely to their heads. In the very front of the trio was a young man with a handgun held firmly to his right side, followed by two older men. They all stopped about twenty meters away from her.

The two in the back both had slightly grim smiles on their faces. Ivy barely noticed though; she was too transfixed by the boy in front of them.

He looked impossibly older than she remembered, and his hair was much shorter. His expression too, was no longer that of the little boy she remembered; his eyes narrowed more, his jaw set firmly, all his features sharp and icy looking. When he saw her however, that changed.

"Mac," Ivy breathed, so softly even she could barely hear herself, but she wasn't sure if it was with horror or happiness or a mixture of the two. He didn't look hurt, not one bit. Not at all like the way he had sounded on the phone. What exactly was going on?

"Hello Ivy." One of the men behind her brother spoke, and behind them, Ivy saw more people emerging. One stood out particularly; a young boy wearing brightly coloured clothing, despite the drab dress choices of everyone around him. He looked like he couldn't have been more than fourteen, with long blonde hair and sharp animal like features.

Mac stopped gaping and turned to the man behind him.

"What the hell is this? How do you know who she is?"

"What, you mean your sister?" the man asked casually, pulling a gun out of nowhere and nonchalantly flicking the safety off. "We're old friends."

"I thought you said this was a job," her brother hissed back, in the angriest voice she had ever heard him use.

"It is."

"Bullshit!"

The man frowned, although he never took his eyes off her. "You'd best watch your tongue boy, in case I get angry and feel like cutting it out."

As if to show he wasn't joking, he reached a hand down to his knee and flicked out a knife. Mac scowled, but shut up.

"Mac, what are you doing?!" Ivy suddenly snapped out of her daze.

"What am I doing? What are _you_ doing?!"

"What do you mean what am I doing, I'm here to get you! You're kidnapped, remember?!" Okay that was potentially not the smartest thing she had ever said.

Behind Mac, the tall man laughed. "Actually, I should probably tell you something about that my dear. I'm terribly sorry to have to do this to you, but we really did need you to come here."

Ivy's hands started to shake a little more and she realised she was still holding the gun up. The man beckoned to the young blonde boy. He grinned an evil little grin and scurried forward.

"This is Jamie. But you can call him 2 if you want. He's a boy of many talents, one of them being impressions. He can do anyone, even me. Very amusing actually."

Ivy gaped, her hands dropping to her sides. The gun fell from her grasp and clattered noisily on the floor.

Mac seemed to momentarily forget about keeping his tongue in tact with the rest of his body. "Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on here?"

"Well... alright. Since you asked so nicely." The man -who Ivy was starting to think might be the Ace of Clubs- chuckled. "It's all a matter of hierarchy really. We got a bit sick of being near the bottom of the food chain- except for the diamonds of course- so we're making a stand, I suppose you could say. It's all very technical and I won't bore you all with the details, but the basic gist of the plan is that we kill you-" He gestured to Ivy "- and then the Ace of Spades is terribly upset and depressed and can't function and etcetera. Very complicated, you see."

It was around that time that Ivy realised her gun was no longer anywhere near her hand. Probably not the best position to be in when she had just been threatened with death. The man grinned at her a little sympathetically and raised the gun.

"Hold on!" Mac snapped, reaching over and hitting the gun down so it was pointed at the ground again. "Why would the Ace of Spades care if you were dead? And why the hell did you think I was kidnapped?"

"Oh 5, you're fairly slow tonight, aren't you?" the Ace of Clubs sighed. "We had to give her a reason to come here. Would you be convinced if someone called you up and said 'come to a warehouse, we want to kill you'? Besides, I did always have a bit of a penchant for theatrics."

"Did you call him 5? Why did he call you 5?" Ivy snapped at her brother, her eyes narrowed into slits.

There was a sudden sound of footsteps, which made every person in the room freeze. The Ace of Clubs lifted his gun back up, on this time it wasn't pointed at Ivy.

"What the fuck is that?" the man next to him hissed, lifting his gun as well. The Ace just shook his head, his eyes darting around the room. Then there was a loud crashing from behind her. After that, a lot of things happened almost simultaneously.

The first thing, was that Ivy noticed was the new darkly clad bodies, emerging from the shadowy edges of the room and striding in towards them. The man leading them had a large, glinting diamond tattooed on his forehead. There was also the sound of loud footsteps from behind her and she spun around to see an all too familiar redhead framed in the doorway and flanked by a large Hispanic man and a heavily tattooed European with a shotgun. All three of them were staring at her. Then they were pushed to the side suddenly and a young man stepped in front of them. When he saw Ivy, his jaw dropped. Ivy imagined it was probably a similar expression to the one on her own face.

Then his eyes darted away from her and at the other two groups of people who were spreading out in front of him, forming a rough triangle, each headed by men who Ivy was assuming were Aces.

There was a long, silence as the men exchanged glances, Ace staring at the tall man standing next to Mac, who was focused on the man with the giant tattoo of a diamond on his face who in turn was staring disbelievingly at Ace. Not a single person in the room uttered word.

The silence was broken, suddenly, and with alarming synchronicity. All three Aces' guns were held up, pointing in the same direction as their eyes and their words echoed each other perfectly.

"_What the fuck_?"

* * *

**It's long though right? I'm actually quite proud of how long it is. It got a little out of hand.**

**I hope everyone enjoy. Can i also say, that reviewers, all of you, every last one, I actually love you guys. Like I can't see you, but I can just tell you're all beautiful wonderful charming people with billions of friends because you're all so nice that how could people not love you?!**

**That's my little psycho babble moment of that day.**

**Lots and lots and lots of love to you all**

**Bee.**


	54. Obligatory explanations

**Second to last chapter! Thank the lord. There'll be one more and then a prologue, or potentially just one more.**

* * *

There was silence for a few more seconds, and then Ivy saw her Ace glare. She could see a muscle in his jaw twitching angrily and she held her breath, waiting for him to speak to her, but much to her surprise he didn't.

"Does someone want to explain what the hell is going on here?" he asked through gritted teeth.

The Ace of Clubs chuckled. "I was assuming one of you would be able to do that, seeing as how you're the ones who barged in on our little party."

"Oh a party, is that what this is? My mistake, from where I was standing it looked more like Mardi Gras," said the man who Ivy was still guessing was the Ace of diamonds, although the guess seemed logical due to the tattoo.

"Funny," The Ace of Clubs answered dully, then he seemed to perk up. "So I take it she told you we were going to be here?"

At first Ivy was confused about who he was talking to, because while it looked like he was addressing the diamond, it was her Ace who answered.

"No _she_ didn't." Ivy wondered if she was the only one who had noticed the tense line of his back and the harsh undertone to his words. "Actually we got a call telling us to be here for... business reasons, although I suppose we all know who that came from."

The Ace of diamonds shook his head. "Don't look at me. We only came here to get the girl off you lot. She would've made a great bargaining chip."

Ivy then became aware of just how intently everyone else in the room was listening to the interchange. Everyone except herself and 9, who she now noticed was glancing uneasily at her and making small jerking motions with the hand at her side in the group's direction.

Ivy shifted her eyes from left to right, trying to gauge the distance between herself and the crowd of them standing in the doorway. The gap seemed to be roughly twice the size of the space between her and the Clubs. Could she make it without anyone noticing? Probably not, but it seemed like a far better option than standing where she was and waiting for someone to shoot her.

Ever so slowly, she inched her foot to the right and slid along after it, trying to make the smallest movements she could. She could vaguely hear the conversation between the three Aces still going out of one ear, while she used to other to listen for any hints that someone might have noticed her movements.

She saw out of the corner of her eye Ace taking a step towards the other men, and they followed suit, stepping closer, the people behind both of them following. The steps continued although their gazes never left each other.

This movement was good for Ivy; not only did it distract the others from her ploy, but it made every step she took that much closer to the Spades and what she hoped was safety.

"You seem a little hot and bothered, kid," the Ace of Diamonds chuckled, a comment Ivy assumed was aimed at her Ace. The Ace of Clubs rolled his eyes.

"Don't tell me you wouldn't be annoyed if we got Marissa involved in this," he said, with an evil glint in his eye, like he was thinking something he shouldn't.

Ivy inched closer. She must have been about two meters away from 9, who's gaze was flicking warily between her and the circle in the middle of the room.

"Good to know you're still keeping tabs on everyone," The Ace of Diamonds replied sarcastically. "And just for the record, I wouldn't be 'annoyed', I'd shoot you in the head and cut both your eyes out."

"Good thing that's clear."

"Definitely."

Ivy slid her foot right the slightest bit further. She didn't know what was going to happen when she reached the group, she only knew that she would be safer, and that was the main thing she was going for.

"So how did _you _know?" Ace spoke up for the first time in a while, his eyebrows still drawn together in a thoughtfully angry way. After a moments consideration Ivy realised he was addressing the Ace of Diamonds. "How did you know they were going to be here?"

"What, you think Victor over here's the only one who's checking up on others? We've got the phone bugged."

"Oh great," The Ace of Clubs answered in his increasingly familiar sarcastic tone. "You would've caught me and Lin having phone sex, then?"

"Thankfully, we missed that."

"Enough." Her Ace was evidently over the small talk. "This shit's getting real old, real fast. It's time we talk some business."

"Business it is," The Ace of diamonds agreed.

The Ace of clubs scowled. "After all the effort we went to, to plan this? Fuck that, let's shoot the shit out of everyone."

Ivy felt her fingers finally touch 9's arm. The other girl's hand immediately shot up her arm and gripped it tightly, preparing to pull her into the group, when something stopped her.

"That sounds like a fabulous idea."

That voice didn't come from any of the three men standing in the triangle. It didn't come from any of the spectators either, or none that Ivy had been aware of anyway. It came from way up above their heads, where the small dusty windows let the light into the room and where no one had been looking as one of these windows was opened.

A shadowy figure on which the only thing Ivy could distinguish was the enormous gun, stood just outside the window, looking down at the three groups in the room. It appeared to be laughing, a little manically.

"Jack," she heard 9 hiss beside her, almost imperceptibly.

Then, high above them, all the glass shattered. Shards rained from the sky as ropes flew through the broken windows. Shouts and curses filled the air, coming from all three directions. Dark, unclear figures jumped through the windows, sliding down the ropes and landing smoothly on the ground. Then one loud shot echoed through the large stone building. And after that, all hell broke loose.

Ivy felt her arm being yanked viciously by the elbow, tugging so hard it felt like it was going to rip out of the socket. Before she had time to look around and properly gauge her bearings, a hand was pressed to her shoulder and she was being forced to the floor. She didn't want to go on the floor. She wanted to see where Ace was and where Mac was, and most importantly, what the fuck was going on.

"Come on," 9 yelled in her ear and the next thing she knew hands grabbed her under her armpits and began to drag her for the door. It hurt and bullets kept bouncing off walls around her. Bodies jumped and dodged and flung themselves out of harm's way. Everything was too fast; Ivy couldn't keep up. There were screams and yells, swearing and then more screaming. She didn't know where it was coming from or who it belonged to.

All too quickly Ivy was outside and the cold night air hit her face, entering her lungs and making her gasp in shock. She found herself falling to her knees inadvertently and her stomach began to turn, trying to reject whatever was in it because she was so completely confused it didn't know how to function.

"Get up," she heard coming from behind her, but she ignored them, resting her head on the ground and trying to stop everything from spinning.

"Get up!" Whoever was speaking practically screamed it this time, tearing Ivy out of her stupor and making her jump to her feet. 9 was standing glaring at her. She waited for her to scream some more but she didn't. "I don't have time to be fucked off with you. Get back to the car and get home. Ace can deal with your sorry ass later."

She didn't wait for her to reply. 9 turned and walked over to Queen who was joined by most of the others except for 7 and 8 who from the looks of it weren't there, backs to the doors, whispering, yelling and generally freaking out. Ace wasn't there and for a second Ivy felt her stomach lurch, until he appeared through the door, not only unscathed but dragging her younger brother behind him.

Ivy gaped and before she could stop herself, she forgot completely about everything 9 had said and sprinted over to the heap her brother was now in on the ground.

"He came running after her," she heard Ace saying to King and then added some more words which Ivy didn't catch. She didn't care.

"Mac," she screeched throwing herself on him. The heap groaned loudly.

"Owwww," it groaned. Ivy let go and stepped back.

"What's wrong, are you hurt? Oh God, you're not shot are you? They didn't shoot you?"

Her brother climbed to his feet as though it was the toughest thing he had ever done. "Not exactly."

She saw a bloody stain on his arm. She looked closer; it was like a graze, except it was one thin line right across his bicep and it was deeper and bloodier than an average scrape.

"You did get shot!"

"Only lightly, look it doesn't matter- what the hell are you doing here?"

"Get out of the fucking doorway," Queen yelled, reaching out a hand and shoving them to the right side of the door. Mac looked like he had something to say, but restrained himself and looked back to Ivy.

"Ivy, I don't understand what the hell's going on here."

"Me neither," Ivy told him, fighting the sudden random urge to burst into tears.

"Didn't I tell you to get out of here?" 9 snapped from somewhere near Ivy. Then a sharp sound next to her made her jump as a round of bullets came whizzing out the door and shot into the ground, spraying dirt and gravel everywhere. Ivy swore and leant in the opposite direction. Her little brother's arm wrapped around her shoulders and turned her so he was in between her and the door.

"Ivy, you need to go. Someone needs to get her away from here." It was King who spoke, in between firing rounds back into the building. He looked at Ace, who promptly looked away and shot some more bullets at unseen people.

"Ace."

"What?"

King took a step back from the door and tugged on his arm, dragging him away a little. "Go."

Ace glared at him. "You can't be serious."

King shook his head. "I'm dead serious. You need to talk, now go."

"I'm not-"

"It's fine! I've got it all under control. None of this lot's going to die under my watch." The two of them exchanged a glance and after another pause Ace simply nodded and turned, walking off in the direction of the car which Ivy had driven there.

King raised his eyebrows at her. "Either go now or stay here and die, but hurry up and do one of them."

"I'm coming with you," Mac interjected before Ivy could move. She nodded.

"Alright, come on."

They hurried after the retreating figure of Ace, who was already at the car. Ivy watched him as they got closer, hoping he would look at her, but at the same time wishing he wouldn't. He never did. He just stared staunchly out of the windscreen looking absolutely livid. It was a scary face; exactly the same as the one he had had on the night King tried to give her away at a strip club, only a little different. Different because then he was angry because he loved her. Now, he was angry because from what Ivy could tell, he hated her.

She didn't want to get into the car. But before she had the chance to back out Mack climbed inside and Ivy's decision was made for her.

It was silent inside. A silence impossible to describe, since it was for a million different reasons.

Ace was wordlessly fuming, only the hard set of his jaw and the way his hands gripped the steering wheel alluding to his mood. In the back seat, Ivy's younger brother sat, his glance flicking between her, Ace and the window. He seemed to be staying quiet for no reason other than that he sensed the tense energy in the car and didn't want to be the one to break it.

Ivy didn't speak because she couldn't really find the words. There most probably weren't any. What did you say to someone when you had just done what she'd done to him? How did you even begin to go about fixing it? The answer was simple; you couldn't.

She had unquestionably just done irreversible damage, and all she could do was wait, to see what he said. If he ever said anything to her again, which wasn't looking likely.

At one point during the long, uncomfortable ride home Mac made eye contact with Ivy. He opened his mouth, as if he was going to speak and before he could, Ivy snapped her gaze away, doing her best to wordlessly tell him not to speak.

She couldn't fully explain why she was so scared of the silence being broken. Maybe it was because she was scared of Ace yelling at her. Maybe she didn't want to have to deal with the screaming and yelling again, even though she knew she deserved it.

No, that wasn't it. She had been yelled at before and it was something she knew how to deal with. This wasn't that kind of silence, that would be broken by loud words and anger. It was cold and uncomfortable and made Ivy want to cry because she didn't know what was coming.

Just the fact that Ace hadn't said anything about her brother being in the car was enough to tell her that things were bad. He was so angry he couldn't even mutter unnecessarily rude comments about him. That or maybe he just didn't care.

The silence still hadn't been broken when they arrived at the house and Ace still hadn't looked at her. They climbed out of the car wordlessly and went inside. He walked in front of her and didn't turn around once.

Uncertainly Ivy reached out a hand to touch his sleeve, wanting to say something, anything that might ease the tension but as soon as her fingers brushed the fabric of his jacket he jerked his arm away. She withdrew her hand after that and stuffed it in her pocket.

Mac was trailing behind the two of them looking like he wanted to be anywhere else other than where he was and Ivy couldn't really blame him. It couldn't be comfortable for her little brother to be stuck in the middle of this, whatever _this_ was.

Ace kept walking straight ahead and ended up in one of the lounges on the ground floor. Ivy followed him in, hands balled into fists in her pockets. Behind her, she heard Mac mutter something about waiting outside and the next thing she knew the door had shut behind her and they were alone.

He sat on the couch with his forehead resting in his hands and his elbows propped up on his knees. She didn't know where to go so she just stood where she was, not wanting to move any closer in case he snapped. Eventually he looked up and his gaze met hers. The look in his eyes was quite unlike anything Ivy had seen in them before.

Most of the time Ace looked like he didn't really care. The rest of the time he looked angry and on some rare occasions he had a grin that lit up the whole room. The horribly betrayed look on his face right then was a new one which made Ivy's heart clench painfully and she felt a lump rising in her throat.

She didn't want to speak but she knew she was going to have to sooner or later.

"Ace." Her voice was uneven and she could seem to muster anymore volume than a whisper. "Ace, I'm so sorr-"

"Don't." His tone was no louder than hers but it held a venom to it that made it one thousand times worse than screaming. "There's no point in lying now. It's a bit late for that."

Ivy bit her lip. "I'm not lying."

"Yes you are. You're not sorry that you did it. You're sorry that we caught you."

Ivy wanted to disagree with him. She opened her mouth to protest but the words wouldn't come out because he was right.

"I'm sorry I hurt you," she tried eventually because it really was true.

Ace just shook his head and looked back down at the ground. "But you'd do it again."

Once again, Ivy found herself lost for words. She shut her eyes as the lump in her throat grew. She wanted to cry but it seemed like after the last few months of regular tears she was dried out. She wanted to lie to him so badly, just to make him forgive her because she knew where this was heading and she hated it, but she knew that would only make it worse.

"You can't even deny it," he said. A bitter laugh escaped him which sent a jarring feeling up Ivy's spine.

"He's my brother," she whispered helplessly, wishing he would understand.

"You didn't know that. It could have been anyone."

"It wasn't."

"But it could have been! Don't you understand? This was why I told you not to go. You don't always know everything Ivy."

The use of her name hurt a little bit. He didn't use it often and this time she knew it was a distancing mechanism. A way to show her that he didn't care anymore.

"Ace, he's my brother," she repeated. "What was I supposed to do?"

"You were supposed to leave it to me. I told you I would sort it, didn't I?"

"I thought they were going to kill him." She could sense this horrible anger building up inside her, but it was oddly restrained. Like it was stuck behind a dam that it couldn't break down. Instead, everything retained the eerie calm it had had in the car, making things that much worse.

Ace looked back up at her and their eyes met, almost daring her to look away, but she didn't. She couldn't.

"You could have died. You _would_ have died if we hadn't been there."

Ivy just shook her head and blinked to moisten her eyes which were drying out from staring at him for too long.

"Where's 8?" she murmured after a few seconds thought.

Ace's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"I just need to talk to him."

"Well he's not here."

Ivy swallowed audibly. "Where is he?"

"That's none of your business." The words didn't surprise her but they hurt a little bit.

"Did he know about this?"

Ace scowled and it was almost a relief, just because it was a familiar expression. "About what, you trying to get yourself killed?"

She ignored the jibe. "About whatever it was that you were doing at the warehouse tonight. Did he know?"

Ace shook his head. "No. It wasn't anything to do with him. He was busy with other things."

Ivy almost wanted to sigh in relief except there were so many other things wrong that she couldn't quite bring herself to be relieved.

"Listen Ace, this wasn't what was meant to happen." The sombre tone that had lightened almost imperceptibly returned tenfold.

"Oh really?" Sarcasm, hurt and annoyance all rolled into one bitter tone. "Then what was meant to happen? What were you planning to do after you heroically saved the kid from the nasty gang members?"

She didn't like the patronising tone he used. "Leave," she said, once again unable to raise her voice to audible levels and yet he still heard her. A hurt grimace passed over his face and was gone before Ivy could be sure she had seen it.

"And where were you going to go?"

She just shook her head and shrugged, looking down again because she starting to realise how wrong she had been in doing what she did that night.

"I'm sorry," was all she could say.

"So am I," he replied, so softly that Ivy wasn't sure she heard it at all. He sighed and rested his face back in his hands.

"I didn't know what else to do." Her voice cracked as she spoke and she realised that she might not be so tear-free as she had presumed.

"You could have believed me," he said and despite the weight of the words, his tone was emotionless. "You could have trusted me when I told you something was wrong with this."

For what felt like the hundredth time the night, Ivy was lost for words. Of course she could have done that. She _should_ have done that, but she didn't and what could she say now other than sorry?

"I love you," she told him and finally she felt a tear drip down her cheek. "I never meant for it to happen like this."

"But it did."

"I didn't want to leave. I wanted to come back, I want to be with you. I just didn't know any other way."

Ace sighed and ran a hand through his hair. She wanted to hug him for doing it because it was the same gesture he used in all their other fights and it meant he was giving in. Only this time he just shook his head for the last time.

"I can't do it anymore."

Ivy's breath hitched in her throat and more tears dribbled down her face. Protesting would have been the best thing to do but again she couldn't make herself force the words out. He was right; they shouldn't do this anymore.

"I love you," she repeated for want of something else to say.

He looked back at her and his eyes were horrifically indifferent. "It doesn't matter."

"I know," she answered miserably. "But I wanted you to know."

Ace's eyes returned to the ground, steely faced. "I already did."

He never said it back, which was worth more words than he could ever have said. He just kept his eyes locked to the ground and tossed her the keys from in his hand.

"Take the car and the kid and go somewhere else. Try and avoid the cops, you're kind of wanted." He said it tonelessly and without once looking at her. Ivy shoved the key in her pocket and stood, staring at him.

"You shouldn't hang around here. Everyone'll be back soon and they won't be so happy to him." Or you. He didn't need to say it for Ivy to get the inference.

She couldn't speak and even if she could have she wouldn't have had any words to say to him. His name was all that would come to her lips.

"Ace," she whispered brokenly, taking a few steps closer so she was standing in front of him. She knelt down and he looked away to the right to avoid meeting her gaze.

She rested a hand on his knee and waited for him to jerk it away but he didn't.

"I'm so sorry," she breathed, and then she leant forward and pressed a kiss against the side of his mouth, inhaling the smell of him one last time. He let her stay there for a few seconds before he pulled away and shut his eyes.

"Enough. You made your choice." He didn't say another word. One single tear glistened on his cheek where it had transferred from Ivy's to his. He brushed it off unceremoniously and it fell to the floor, splashing and breaking apart into hundreds of miniscule droplets. Around then, Ivy felt her heart break in roughly the same fashion. She turned without another word and left the room.

Mac was leaning on the door outside, in a position that suggested he had just been listening at the door and was now pretending that he didn't. Ivy didn't look at him as she walked past in case her tenuous hold on her emotions snapped when she saw her little brother's face again.

"Are you alright?" he asked uncertainly, in the awkward way males sometimes did when confronted with such awkward emotional situations.

"I'm fine," she answered. "Let's go."

As they walked back into the garage, Ivy heard the phone ringing inside the house. She unlocked the car and climbed into the driver's seat. As she did so, a loud curse echoed throughout the house and then Ivy shut her door and she couldn't hear anything else.

Her and Mac drove north in silence for a long time. There were so many things she wanted to ask him but she was still too torn up over the event of the previous hour to talk. Eventually her brother gave up on the silence.

"I can't believe you're here."

Ivy glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, and felt the grip on herself crack ever so slightly.

"I didn't think I was ever going to see you again," he told her, reaching a hand over and resting it on hers, which was gripping the steering wheel unnecessarily tightly.

His hand was so different, if she couldn't see him sitting next to her she wouldn't have known who it belonged to. It felt like Ace's hands, like 10's hands. Scars and calluses marred the palm, leaving it tough and uneven. They were the kind of hands you got from hard work and pain and overuse. It made her want to cry all that much more.

"At least no one told _you_ I was dead," Ivy muttered, turning her hand over and redirecting her grip from the steering wheel to her brother's hand.

"Someone told you I was dead?"

She nodded. "Kennedy. I got a letter from her while I was in... juvy. She told me you'd been murdered. I cried for weeks."

The hollow tone to her voice wasn't one she liked, and she knew Mac noticed it because he stroked a thumb along her hand comfortingly.

"I'm sorry."

"Why? It wasn't your fault."

"Ivy..." He paused and seemed to search for the right words. "I think we have a lot to talk about."

"Like what?" Ivy replied numbly, watching the road slip past, not entirely sure of where they were going.

"Like everything. Most importantly, what are you doing with that guy?"

"I'm not 'with that guy' anymore," Ivy snapped, far more angrily than she had intended. "He broke up with me."

"Why? Because you picked me over him?"

She shook her head, feeling a painfully empty feeling in her chest. "I don't think so. I think he just got sick of me leaving him. I do it quite a lot, you see."

"Why did you do it this time?"

"Because I came to save you from- Hold, on I'm not the one who needs to be explaining here! What the fuck is wrong with you, getting involved with that lot? Have you lost your damn mind?"

Mac closed his mouth and glared sullenly at her. She'd never seen him look sullen before and it made her want to cry that much more. The Mac she remembered was a sweet little boy who wouldn't hurt a fly and now he'd decided to run off and join some gang.

"Why would you do that?" Ivy wanted to hang her head, except she was driving and she didn't want to crash either.

"It's a long story."

"In case you haven't noticed, we haven't got any pressing engagements."

Mac shook his head. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me." Her brother wasn't the only one who had changed in her absence. Ivy had done a fair bit of reassessing herself and had come out the other side an almost unrecognisable person.

He sighed slightly then wound down the window, letting a rush of crisp night air into the car.

"I don't want to scare you."

"You don't know what I've been through while I was gone," she forced a weak smile onto her face. "There isn't a whole lot you could say that would scare me."

Her brother took a deep breath. "All right."

"It all started after you got sent away..."

...

_Ivy had left home one year ago the day they received the letter telling them of her trip to juvy. And she had been gone only three weeks when Mac was taken._

_It all happened somewhat unceremoniously and was nothing like what one saw in the movies. There was no epic struggle, no screaming, no kicking and biting and death threats; just a needle and some strong sleeping drugs. He was dragged right off the street, under a pretence that he could no longer remember and after that everything had turned black._

_When Mac woke up three days later, his vision was blurry and he was completely unaware of where he was. The effects of the drugs had yet to wear off completely, meaning he had a throbbing headache and numb limbs to go along with his dizziness and location confusion. The room he was in was small and stone and dripped moisture down the walls from cracks between the brick roof. Moss grew on unattended corners and it had the distinct air of being a place the was not regularly utilised._

"_The basement," the crazy English one told him, although Mac was unsure just how many basements contained things such as shackles and thick steel doors._

"_Kill him," the one in the wheel chair, who Mac recognised as his older sister's ex-boyfriend, would say. But the English one hadn't agreed._

"_No Jono," he'd said, "I want to have some fun with him first."_

_This was another word on which Mac and the English boy – who couldn't have been that much older than the poor boy – seemed to differ in definition. His name, if Mac remember correctly was Tyler._

_Fun for Mac consisted of baseball, being with his friends, watching TV and the occasional party although he wasn't much of an advocate of underage drinking. Fun for Tyler consisted mainly of pain and the infliction of said pain on others. Masochistic, perhaps would have been a good way to describe him._

_The ways he found to fulfil his interests differed from day to day. After a week, Mac gave up entirely on the theory that this would end and allowed his body to numb itself, in an attempt to drown out the pain that had become a central part of his day to day life. He had never realised there were quite so many ways to hurt until now and quite so many parts of his body that could be injured._

_He wasn't fully aware of what he had done, although from time to time he would catch snatches of the words Tyler would say to him. The conversations between the two of them however were few and far between and did not usually remain in Mac's conscious thought for long periods of time. Occasionally the man Jono would join them and then the conversation were far more interesting. Jono was a man who liked the sound of his own voice far too much._

_The story behind his captivity changed from day to day. When Tyler was present there were constant mention of words like 'spy', 'nark' and 'clubs' although the young boy wasn't quite coherent enough to connect the thoughts. When Tyler would disappear, off to wherever it was the two of them disappeared to, the constant words changed. 'sister' came up a lot, mostly coupled with 'bitch' or words of a similar nature. Mac still couldn't piece together the whole thing but he could catch enough to know that his sister had obviously done something to this man to make him want to hurt her. It would appear to Mac that he was simply a means to an end, being used to exploit his sister, despite the fact that it was useless since as far as he knew, no one knew he was there._

"_No one will find you if I don't want you to be found," Tyler had told him. "And I don't want you to be found."_

_Then one day, seemingly out of nowhere, he was saved. The men came and picked him up, carrying him from the room as he was unable to walk. His face was battered and swollen almost beyond recognition so when another boy in the same condition was thrown into the room in his place, the change was only obvious on very close speculation._

_The men had taken him back to another place that he was unfamiliar with. A large house, in which he was shut in the real basement and had his injuries tended to by a young woman with curly brown hair who never spoke a word to him._

_They asked him questions too, about why Jono and Tyler had taken him. He answered them as best he could because he didn't want to be hurt anymore and he must have managed to piece together enough information to satisfy them because eventually they stopped treating him like a slave._

"_We'll have to kill him," said one of them, reminding Mac uncomfortably of Jono._

"_No," said the man, who Mac eventually came to know as Ace. "We don't have to. We're short a 5. Let's keep him."_

"_Yes, keep me," Mac agreed. He was in no rush to be killed._

_And so they did._

_..._

Ivy stared out of the windscreen unseeingly for quite a few seconds after her brother recounted his story.

"So basically," she said, taking a deep breath, "this is all my fault."

Next to her, Mac shook his head his hand tightened on hers. "Don't look at it like that."

"How else am I supposed to look at it?" Ivy didn't realise she had screeched at him until it was too late.

'I shouldn't have told you," he muttered, releasing her hand and looking away.

"I ruined your life," Ivy breathed, feeling an all too familiar damp feeling on her face as more tears trickled down her face, blurring her vision of the road. "I ruin everyone's life. That's what I am, I'm a life ruiner. I latch onto to someone and then I just fuck up everything until they're... ruined."

"No-"

"Yes! Yes, that's exactly what it's like." She laughed hysterically. "That's why he doesn't want me. That's why no one wants me; because I just suck the life out of people. God I hate me."

Abruptly, and with a swerve that flung Mac against the window, Ivy pulled over to the side of the road.

"Get out," She said bluntly. He stared at her.

"What?"

"Go, get out of the car." He didn't move. "Go!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" he looked utterly bewildered. Ivy leant over and began to push him.

"I don't – want you – in the car with me," she grunted out in between pushes. "I've already done enough damage."

"Stop it, you're being ridiculous."

"No I'm not!" She screamed suddenly, making him jump. "Look what I've done to you! Look! You were perfect and all I've done is ruin you. You used to be so sweet and I've turned you into this. You must hate me. He hates me. I hate me! Everyone hates me."

And with that, Ivy promptly burst into a fresh set of tears. She lay her head down on the steering wheel, closed her eyes and let the torrents of water pour out from between her eyelids. In between the violent sobs wracking her body and the unintelligible mutterings she let out, Mac came around to her door and carried her to the back seat.

"Don't cry Vee," he whispered in her ear, laying her out as she continued to blubber helplessly. "It's not worth it."

"Yes it is," she mumbled, barely getting the words out between her sharp, shaky breaths. "He was beautiful. So were you."

"He's not dead, and neither am I."

"You might as well be," she snivelled not noticing the hurt look on his face. Then the tears took over again and she found herself unable to speak once more.

"Sleep," whispered the set of lips against her ear. "It'll all be better in the morning."

When Ivy woke up her eyes were uncomfortably puffy from a mixture of tears and lack of sleep and her hair was sticking up at odd angles. Light seeped in through her eyelids, alerting her to the fact that it must be after dawn, although she couldn't have guessed the actual time. To be honest she didn't want to. The sound of tyres on gravel from the night before had stopped and the only thing that felt different than usual was the hard texture of her pillow, being that it was in fact a seat.

A large, rough hand was shaking her lightly awake and for the briefest moment she thought it was Ace and the idea the perhaps, this whole week had been a dream occurred to her. She would wake up, in bed next to him and roll over to hug him and recount the horrible dream she'd had in which he'd kicked her out of the house.

Then she opened her eyes to find her brother leaning over her shaking her.

"Ivy, wake up," he muttered softly.

"Whatisit?" Ivy grunted, flinging an arm over her eyes to block out the sunlight.

"Wake up," He repeated, "We're home."

* * *

**I feel now would be a good time to bring up 'Confessions of an Unadulterated Heart,' but since I'm guessing everyone is as sick of this story as I am, I'll leave it until the last chapter to tell you about that. Just to briefly explain, it's a seuqel which is is far better in terms of writing and also contains no plot holes unlike this one which has roughly a thousand, give or take a few, although it's also a lot more graphic. Anyway, I'll explain more in the next chapter just in case anyone's interested, which you're possibly not and I wouldn't blame you.**

**One last thing before I go to sleep, there's a link on my profile which says it goes to pictures of the spades. while it should and the pictures really are awesome, for some reason which is unclear to me, it doesn't. I'm going to try and fix it, if for no other reason than that I really really want everyone to see the picture of 9, because oh, my God, it's perfect.**

**This note's getting a little long.**

**Au revoir les enfants ;)**

**Bee**

**ps. please no one freak out over the summary change. I still fully intend to finish the story. I just happen to dislike it immensely right now, which is no one's fault other than my own.**


	55. Holes

**So here's the deal. This is the last chapter, the only left is an epilogue. For many of you, myself included, this is the biggest relief in the world because this has gone on way too long and if I wasn't sick of not finishing things then I would have completely abandoned it before now.**

**This is not good. What this chapter is, is an ending, which needed to happen. It's not beautifully written, there are new characters introduced where they shouldn't be there's creepy relationships, there's a lot of things, but basically all I care about now is finishing this.**

**At some point in the distant future, I intend to go back over this story and rewrite the whole thing so it is actaully good and has a story line and makes sense and doesnt contain any scenes from Camp Green Lake. This will be a while away, but I do promise that if I do end up doing it and anyone says they want to read it, then I'll post it on fictionpress, but bear in mind it won't be the same story that you read on here at all.**

**Anyway, with that all said - and sorry about the long note - I hope that you at least get a little bit of closure out of this last chapter, although you probably won't because God knows if I read this I would be incredibly pissed off with the writer. here goes nyway though.**

* * *

By home, Mac didn't mean what Ivy had automatically assumed he meant. She had looked up expecting to find her childhood home, only to see an unfamiliar apartment block. Her brother didn't falter in the slightest, grabbing her arm and tugging her gently out of the car.

"Come on. It's early and I'm hungry."

"Where are we?" She stood up groggily and stretched. Her bones clicked loudly and she winced, rubbing her neck.

"It's an apartment. I called ahead." He wasn't even subtle about dodging the question. Ivy was tempted to glare at him, but it was interrupted by a yawn.

"Who's apartment?"

Mac just shook his head and locked the car, wandering off in the direction of the front doors. Ivy followed him a little gingerly. Whoever it belonged to, they were clearly extremely rich, because places like this didn't come cheap, even if they were only apartments.

They got into the elevator and pressed the button for the seventh floor it lit up a bright orange colour and Ivy felt the floor beneath them jerk into motion. She wanted to ask where they were going but she knew there was no point since he would probably just ignore her. The doors dinged open and he stepped out into a hallway, walking quickly along it until he reached a door with a golden fourteen on it and stopped.

"Be nice," he muttered and then knocked on the door. This only served to add to Ivy's worries. She'd opened her mouth to answer him when she was interrupted by the opening of the door. A girl with mass of golden curls on her head and a slightly orange tan stood in the doorway looking at them a little uncertainly.

"Mac," she murmured, staring at him. She didn't even seem to notice Ivy was there despite the fact that Ivy was gaping at her unabashedly. This had to be a joke.

The girl reached out a hand and ran it over his face, as though testing to see if he was really there.

"Hello Kennedy," he said, a smiling creasing his eyes. "It's been a while."

With those words, Ivy's ex-best friend threw herself onto her younger brother and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

"Too long," she could hear the other girl whispering in his shoulder. She was a little lost for words at the sudden display of emotion. What exactly was going on here escaped her completely. She had never even seen the two of them talk to each other for elongated periods of time, let alone be on hugging terms. But then, she had been gone for two years.

"I think you'd better come inside," the other girl finally announced, pulling away from Mac and finally seeming to notice Ivy standing in the doorway. "Both of you."

The inside was just as nice as the outside had led her to believe and somewhere in the back of her mind, where the shock hadn't quite set in yet, Ivy wondered where Kennedy might be getting the money for this place since it was highly unlikely that she had a job. She didn't bother to ask, because in the grand scheme of questions that needed to be asked, it was somewhere near dead last.

"Take a seat," her ex-friend, said almost a little frostily and Ivy wasn't entirely surprised by the attitude; she had after all told her that she still hated her in a letter informing her her younger brother was dead.

Ivy sat uncomfortably on one of the pale cream sofas, Mac taking the seat next to her. Kennedy sat down opposite the pair and surveyed them thoughtfully.

"We really appreciate this K," Mac said, smiling warmly at the doll-like girl sitting across from them. She smiled back, which again wasn't much of a surprise. She had already seen enough to guess that she was the unwanted one here. Whatever had gone on between her brother and best friend had clearly been something quite serious because they kept looking at each other like lovesick puppies. It was actually a little depressing.

Suddenly Kennedy's smile disappeared abruptly and she sat up straight with a glare on her face.

"I thought you were dead!" She snapped angrily, her features distorting scarily, but nonetheless beautifully into an outraged scowl.

"I know; I'm sorry-"

"Sorry!? You're _sorry_? I sat around crying for a month because I thought that some lunatic had killed you and I was all alone and all the time you were alive and well off in some _ghetto city_ in California?"

Mac frowned. "Not exactly. And I'd hardly call it a ghetto-"

"I don't care what you'd call it! Do you have any idea what I went through? Couldn't you have at least written or found some way of telling me that you were alive?"

"It's complicated."

"How complicated can it be? You get paper, you get a pen and you write a goddamn letter mentioning the fact that actually, you didn't get hacked into bits and floated down a river."

Mac put a hand to his forehead exasperatedly, in a gesture Ivy recognised all too well, although it wasn't usually her younger brother who she saw do it. The memory threatened to bring a whole new flood of tears to the surface, so Ivy forced it from her mind.

"Look, it's early, we're all tired, do you think we can leave this conversation until later?"

Kennedy opened her mouth in what Ivy assumed was an attempt to argue with him, but Mac's imploring look seemed to calm her minutely.

"I promise I'll explain everything, fully and completely after I've had a coffee."

Coffee? Ivy repeated the word in her mind. She had never heard her brother ask for a coffee once, in his entire life. This was all getting a little too insane for her. It felt like she was stuck in an alternate reality and all she needed was to pinch herself and she would wake up to find she was back at home two years ago with her mother and father and brother eating dinner at the table and laughing some stupid work story one of their parents had told.

She pinched and nothing happened. She tried it once more and again, the only result seemed to be a sharp stinging in her arm. Kennedy was giving her strange looks and it seemed to be this which prompted her to stand up.

"Okay. Coffee. It seems like you need it. And then we talk?"

Mac nodded. "And then we talk."

"Good."

She left and the siblings sat alone in the room, silent, excepting for Ivy's heavy sighs and Mac's occasional shuffle on the couch to find a more comfortable position.

"So," she said finally, because it had to be asked. "You and Kennedy?"

In actuality Ivy wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer. The image of the two of them doing anything together was nauseating, especially since she had a good two years on him. In fact, the image of her brother with anyone at all was nauseating now that she thought about it. For the life of her though she couldn't imagine what would attract them to each other. The Kennedy Ivy had known was nothing but a shallow bitch with zero morals and a penchant for drama, whereas Mac had been intelligent and kind and handsome and funny. Everything that people like her and her friends didn't really deserve.

Mac seemed equally as uncomfortable about it as Ivy did, despite having brought her there in the first place. He cleared his throat awkwardly and ruffled his hair.

"Yeah." He shrugged, a gesture even more awkward than his cough and looked down.

"Wow." She nodded, looking at a spot two feet over his head, on the light cream walls. Then she tried to laugh it off, with a very unconvincing laugh. "I wouldn't have ever picked that.

He didn't laugh; just grunted in reply and looked back up at her. "You're angry."

Ivy shook her head. Disgusted would have been a better word for it, and even then, what right did _she_ have to feel anything about this relationship? After what she had done, she had no right to judge anyone. Although she did have to admit, it hurt a little seeing someone so clearly smitten with her brother mere hours after having her heart torn out of her chest.

It seemed strange to be sitting on the sofa now, having such a normal conversation about such a normal subject when only one day ago everything had been drama and fights and hostages and death. Now it was 'oh, so you're dating my best friend'? Ivy felt like a fake person, in a soap opera and any minute now the cameras would stop rolling and she'd end up back where she was in some dingy warehouse staring down the barrel of some seedy guys Beretta. At some point, she was going to have to drill it into herself that that wasn't going to happen, but not yet.

"When?

"Just after you left. It shook everyone up so badly and we both felt the same way, it just kind of... happened," he finished lamely.

Ivy nodded politely as though the news didn't make her feel nauseous. "Right, of course."

Naturally it was her fault. Everything these days seemed to be her fault. She couldn't quite contain the sentence which forced itself from her lips.

"But she's so much _older_ than you."

"Grief does funny things to people, Ivy." Kennedy's bell like voice rang out sweetly from the doorway, even though there was an iciness to it that was unmistakeable.

"It's not really that big an age gap," Mac added in a soft voice afterwards. Ivy certainly didn't agree, but managed to keep this to herself.

"Here's your coffee." Three cups were set down on the table, steam billowing off the liquid inside in the cool, air conditioned air inside the apartment.

"Thank you," Ivy murmured, as Mac inclined his head slightly to the girl.

This was followed by a few moments silence as they all stared at each other once again. There seemed to Ivy to be an abundance of things to take in and somehow not enough time to do it with. She could have stared at her younger brother for forever and never quite come to terms with the way he looked now and the same with her best friend.

She was still beautiful and perfect in every way imaginable, yet there was a hardness to her eyes that had never been there before. Kennedy might have been a bitch, but she was a naive bitch. Naive in all the ways that seemed to matter now, anyway. The look in her eyes told Ivy this was no longer so; the loss of first a friend and then a lover seemed to have taken their toll on her. It was her who finally drilled up the courage to speak.

"You look different." Ivy was surprised when the comment was directed at her. It had not yet occurred to her that maybe these two weren't the only ones who had undergone changes. But naturally her hair, her face, her body, nothing was really the same anymore. Of course, the biggest changes couldn't be seen, but if it was all the same, Ivy planned to keep those, in most part at least, to herself.

"It's been a long time."

"So it has. And yet it feels like just yesterday that you ran off with that stupid Italian boy to try and make a go of your Hollywood career." Her tone was so bitter Ivy almost flinched away from her.

"I was young, and extremely stupid."

"Yes, you were." Such a blunt agreement wasn't exactly what ivy had been hoping for, but then she shouldn't have expected any less from this girl.

"I know it's too late now, but I really am sorry." Ivy was tired physically and emotionally worn out and all she really wanted was to crawl into bed and never come out again, but these were things which needed to be got out of the way now.

"It's not too late," Mac spoke up again, reaching out and placing a hand on her knee. "It could never be too late."

"Yes it could," Kennedy corrected, eyeing her former friend coldly. Then, unexpectedly her expression softened. "But luckily for you, it's not."

Lost for words, Ivy simply gaped at her in shock. Kennedy shrugged.

"I don't completely forgive you, but you weren't the only stupid one Ivy. We all went through that phase, although none of quite as... dramatically as you. But then, you always were the drama queen."

Once again Ivy bit back retorts to this comment. She disagreed wholeheartedly, but right now, with so few people who seemed to care about her, she thought it was best to take what she get, step by step. Everything wasn't going to magically get better again, but hopefully with time it could and maybe she could get back some semblance of the happiness she had before everything started to go wrong.

"I'm sorry." Ivy stifled a yawn mid apology. "And at the risk of sounding cliché, I might have to leave it there."

Mac took up the reins there. "It's early Kay. I think it might a good time for us to get some sleep. You included; there's no way we didn't wake you up, showing up here at this time."

"You did," she answered bluntly. "But you were alive, so I managed to look past it."

He chuckled, and the two of them shared a momentary glance that held so many unsaid words and emotions it made Ivy uncomfortable being in the room with them. It was the kind of glance her and Ace might have had, before he decided he couldn't take it anymore.

"I'll show you to your room." She stood up, leaving her still full coffee mug sitting on the table. "I wasn't exactly expecting guest until you called and even then I was still half asleep, so only one of the bedrooms has beds made up in it. We can do something about it when everyone's fully rested, but until then you're going to have to deal with sharing."

She opened the door onto a large room painted in cool whites with a feature wall in red with a large double bed and two singles. Ivy was somewhat surprised that in her exhausted state she was noticing the colour scheme, but was also too exhausted to care that she was doing it.

"Take which ever beds you want, I really don't care," Kennedy supplied. "I'm going to go and catch up on my beauty sleep. At a more Godly hour, there'll be time for a serious discussion about what the hell we're going to do."

Then she was gone from the from in flurry of cashmere and blonde hair. Ivy didn't miss the 'we' thrown in there casually as though it didn't mean anything to her; as though this was now her problem, merely because it was also her brother's problem. Apparently Kennedy really had grown up in the two years they'd been apart.

"I got dibs on the double," Mac yelled, dragging her out of her stupor and back into reality. He had raced to the bed and flopped down on it, the mattress still bouncing up and down from the impact. Ivy stared at him, utterly speechless and then for the first time in quite a long while, she burst into completely shocked laughter.

Those were quite possibly some of the most beautiful words Ivy had heard in her entire life.

* * *

Ivy didn't sleep as poorly as she had expected to; which was to say she managed to fall asleep at all. After a horrible dream where she was back in _that_ house, with all of them and _him_, she gave up on sleeping because she decided waking up hurt too much.

As it turned out though, Ivy wasn't the only one unable to sleep peacefully. The noise from the bed next to hers made her stiffen slightly, before she realised it was only Mac; as though it could have been anyone else. She heard the noise of the covers rustling before the sudden stillness of the noise told he had either stopped moving or they had been removed.

When she heard footsteps, Ivy decided the latter was true. They pattered lightly over the ground, surprisingly soft for such a large person and stopped next to her bed. She wanted roll over and look at him, but had a feeling if she did he would return to bed, so she stayed still.

She didn't have to act for very long; all the boy did was a reach a hand down to her face and gently stroke her cheek, before whispering a few words to her and tiptoeing out of the room.

Ivy knew where he was going. It was painfully obvious to anyone with half a brain and while the thought made her a little uncomfortable, she thought that as long as he was happy then he was getting what he deserved. So out of respect for her younger brother, she rolled over and closed her eyes, trying to return to sleep.

_I love you Rock, I have since the first time I saw you, and nothing is gonna change that._ His voice came back with heartbreaking clarity. But naturally it should; it had only been one day since she last heard it, when the things it was saying weren't nearly so pleasant. Maybe because things had changed, no matter what he had said then. That was back before she had ruined it and now she didn't have anyone to blame but herself.

Poor clueless city girl who thinks she knows everything decides to take matters into her own hands. It would have made a great headline. As it was, it only made her cry into Kennedy's goose down pillows and wipe her nose with the Egyptian cotton sheets.

_You've got us now, princess. And it's all you're ever going to need, because we won't ever leave you. _Mac's voice in her mind, repeated the words he had spoken only seconds earlier. And she waited for them to make the crying stop, which they did, even if it was only a little bit.

As she lay awake that night, staring unseeingly at the insides of her eyelids, while she tried not to fall asleep, Ivy tried her very best to come to terms with all the changes going on around her. She felt like she had been standing inside a building that had crumbled to the ground and somehow the only thing left was her and a pile of rubble so big she couldn't even begin to fathom it.

It was as though things systematically dropped out of her life until she was left with a thousand holes and no way to fill them back in, because there was only one of her against the whole world. But that wasn't true. It wasn't just her. She had Mac and that was all she needed, and maybe in time, she would have Kennedy again too.

She would take things as they came, day by day, until one day she felt she could walk again and then until she could talk like her old self. And in spite of everything, Ivy was okay with this solution, because she couldn't see any other way to carry on and also because she new one day would come.

Maybe not any time soon, and maybe not easily, but it _would_ come. One day she would be able to look in the mirror without seeing _him_. And then maybe, just maybe, she could begin to rebuild some semblance of a life from all the holes around her.

* * *

**So after my rant, I have this to say; even though this is not technically the last chapter, thank you so much to everyone who read this and perservered (I think I have too many Rs in that word) throught the painfully/embarrassingly bad writing, the ridiculously long gaps between updates and the enormous plot holes. I love you all and am sincerely grateful. This will be my last note since I won't do one on the epilogue and I just need to let everyone know that I totally understand how annoying it must have been for you to have to wait for months and months inbetween updates and all the rest of the stuff that I did, so one last time, thanks.**

**xx**

**Bee**


	56. Epilogue

**Poison Ivy – Epilogue.**

Seven months, three weeks, five days, sixteen hours and counting. Ivy was nineteen. Summer and autumn had come and gone and now another winter was covering up the dried brown leaves with slushy white snow. The world kept on spinning and spinning, so fast it made her dizzy.

Kennedy and Mac were more in love than ever; they made one of those picture perfect couples that you stared enviously while they walked down the street, hand in hand, laughing like they had just heard the funniest joke in the world. They were love drunk. Ivy laughed with them and smiled and acted like she didn't care.

Ivy's name never featured on the news anymore. She could venture out into the streets without being recognised, except by people who thought they surely 'knew her from someplace'. But no, Ivy assured them, no they didn't. And they would shrug and smile and carry off on their way, glancing pleasantly at the beautiful girl who seemed so carefree. Little did they know.

Seven months, three weeks, five days and sixteen hours. And 'one day' still hadn't come. Sure, she could walk, talk, smile, laugh, scowl and cry like herself and for a few hours here and there Ivy could kid herself she wasn't acting. She could convince herself it was the real deal; until she looked in the mirror and saw nothing other than him.

His face, smiling at her, his shoulders, tensing in frustration at some stupid thing someone or other had said. His hands, running over her body in an almost frenzied manner, tearing at clothing and making her heart stop. His lips, telling her in his voice that everything would be okay, that he loved her, that he always would.

'Liar' Ivy screamed in her mind. Liar. It was _her_ who would never stop loving him. _Her_ who was unable to function without him there and her who's life had shattered to pieces the day he left her, seven months, three weeks and five days ago. And still, she had never gone one day without thinking about him.

It would be a lie to say that Ivy wasn't disappointed in herself. She didn't want to love him anymore, since he undoubtedly didn't feel the same way. She didn't want to pine over some lost love who she would never get back.

_I love you_, she'd said.

_It doesn't matter_, he'd said back. So what was the point? If that didn't matter, the one thing in her life that Ivy had truly meant, heart and soul, then what did? What on earth could be more important than that?

She faked it well enough that they never asked. She suspected Kennedy knew, if no reason other than that she had gone through the same thing once upon a time, with a boy who had come back. But she didn't say anything, never said anything, because their relationship was still tenuous enough that she didn't dare mention it.

Mac on the other hand was wilfully ignorant. He wanted so terribly to believe what she told him that he did, no questions asked, even when he could hear her crying in her room at night, while he slept only two rooms away. She did try to be quiet, but it was difficult when one's heart was shattered into pieces. The need to let it out outweighed the need for self preservation.

She had started work on a number of things to try and distract herself. She got a job in one of the beautiful, expensive boutiques down the road, working there part time. She had been hired practically on sight, probably because she had borrowed some of Kennedy's less expensive clothes and thrown together in what she considered a boutiquey kind of style. The money was a bonus too, because not only did it mean she could give some to Kennedy, which made her feel far better about living with her friend, but she could use the rest of it to distract herself with shopping.

Ivy joined a gym too and started working out once a day. It was a twenty four hour gym and sometimes she would find herself down there in the middle of the night or early hours of the morning, running herself ragged to try and forget. She lost a lot of weight; almost too much, which prompted her next obsessive activity; cooking.

She began to cook her way systematically through the longest cookbook Kennedy owned, which sadly was entirely in French. She got Kennedy to translate it for her and set about cooking dinners, lunches, desserts and occasionally even breakfast before she headed off to work.

Usually, Ivy found that by the end of the day she was so tired she didn't have enough energy left over to think about anything other than her bed and when she finally feel into it, the dreams would come.

"I think you have an obsessive personality," Kennedy told her once, when Ivy finally finished the cookbook. "You find something and then you obsess over it, until you finish it and then you find the next thing."

Ivy had laughed at the time, but it wasn't a happy laugh. She laughed because it was so very true she couldn't think of any other reaction. Obsessive. That was her alright, to a tee. That was why thoughts of him were so very inescapable, even in her dreams. Because what her and Ace had started never did quite get finished. So instead, she was left to obsess over him, because that was what she did.

Eventually Ivy came to terms with the fact that this would never change.

Eight months, eight days and eighteen hours. That was when it did change, all with a girl in a green pea coat.

* * *

All three of them were sitting inside with mugs of hot chocolate, watching a terrible soap opera in Spanish. Although none of them could understand it, the heinous facial expression and horrific acting was enough to make it worthwhile.

"I don't understand," said Kennedy. Her feet were tucked up on the couch underneath her and the loved up couple were thankfully resisting their urges to touch one another while Ivy was in the room. "Did she sleep with his sister, or her own sister?"

"How do you know it's her sister?" Ivy asked, even more confused now than she had been before the comment.

"Well look at them. All three of them have red hair. How many red haired Spaniards do you know?"

"I know a blonde Argentinean," Ivy replied distractedly, before realising what she had said and taking a long gulp of hot chocolate. This comment garnered some odd looks from both Mac and Kennedy, but thankfully neither of them commented.

"Just because they have red hair it doesn't make them related," Mac argued.

"Yes it does. At least two of them must be. There can't be three people with the same hair colour who are all unrelated."

"That's a ridiculous thing to say," he answered, flicking the TV onto mute so that the accented ramblings wouldn't interrupt his point. "Just because you have the same hair as someone it doesn't make you related to them. Look, Ivy and I have completely different hair colours."

"Yes, but that's because you were adopted," Kennedy said earnestly, then burst out laughing. "Only kidding, honey, only kidding. Okay, maybe it doesn't make them related, but they have the same eyes as well, look. Blue eyes, red hair. Sounds more like an Irish person if you ask me. Maybe they're half Irish and that's why they're fighting."

The pointless argument was interrupted by a loud knocking on their front door. All three occupants glanced at each other after the knocking had stopped with perplexed looks on their faces.

No one had invited anyone; they didn't get many visitors, mainly because Ivy, while no longer infamous was still a bit of a threat to their safety. And for someone to be here now, in Ivy's mind, only eventuated to very bad possibilities.

Kennedy stood up and went to the door. She opened it naturally, as though she didn't have a care in the world about who might be on the other side. The only thing giving her away was the tense line of her shoulders and the slightly too bright smile on her face.

On the other side was a girl. She was short, even shorter than Kennedy with olive skin and extremely large sunglasses propped on her nose. She had a white woollen hat placed just so over her brown hair and paired with her forest green pea coat, it made quite a bold statement.

Not only that, but she was smiling; a very brisk, to the point smile, but a smile nonetheless. Ivy didn't know her, so waited for Kennedy to show some sign of who the girl might be. A cop in disguise? Somehow she doubted it. For all her poise and fashion sense, she didn't look a day over seventeen.

Much to Ivy's surprise, Kennedy didn't appear to know the girl either. "Can I help you?"

The girl surveyed Kennedy quickly and seemed to consider it. "Well, you are blonde, but I really don't think you're his type. So I'm going to say no. Could I possibly come in, it's absolutely freezing out here?"

For a moment, Ivy had wondered if it was 4 standing out there. She definitely looked older, and her hair was darker, but it had been eight months and Ivy of all people knew how much could change in the time. Her heart had just about leapt out of her chest, when the possibility occurred to her, but the momentary appraisal of Kennedy has quashed any hope she might have held out. Besides that, her voice was different; much more feminine and with a hint of a New York accent which 4 had never had.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," Kennedy said with another smile, and yet the coldest tone Ivy had ever heard anyone use. Clearly she didn't like the girl very much.

"I didn't give it," she replied, but then seeming to relent, she added, "Lana. My name's Lana."

"And what exactly are you doing here, _Lana_?"

The way Kennedy was staring at the young girl – Lana apparently – would have been enough to make the toughest man want to shrivel up and die. As it was, Lana simply stared back at her from behind her dark glasses, unflinchingly.

"Look, perhaps I didn't make myself clear," She replied in the most cordial tone, contradicting her expression. "My name is Lana Hunter. I believe your friend in there knows my brother."

And then she took her glasses off and Ivy's heart stopped. Lana had a pretty face, with high cheek bones and beautiful, full lips, but it wasn't that which made Ivy feel sick to her stomach. It was the stormy blue eyes that stared out at her, so unbearably familiar to the eyes she hadn't seen for nearly a year.

"I take it your Ivy?" she asked, and there was a chill in her voice that almost made her want to deny it. But instead, she just nodded mutely.

"Right," Lana Hunter said briskly, then walked over and slapped her hard across the face. Ivy's mouth dropped open in complete shock more than anything else. It took a few moments for the stinging to set in, but by the time it had, Lana had already put her sunglasses on and taken a seat on the couch opposite her. The other two stood gaping between the two of them like lost sheep.

"That was for my brother," Lana explained matter-of-factly, as though it was commonplace to waltz into someone's living room and slap them. "He wouldn't do it himself, because he would never hit a girl, but I felt someone needed to, since you've only completely and utterly ruined his life."

Ivy continued to stare at her, unable to muster any words at all to answer this girl with.

"I think there's something we need to talk about," she added then. "Preferably alone."

Mac and Kennedy exchanged glances, then Ivy's younger brother scowled. "What, so you can hit her again? I don't think so. We're staying right where we are."

"Mac." Ivy somehow managed to find her voice again. "Go. Both of you, please. I want to talk to her."

There was another stunned silence, broken once again by Mac.

"You've got to be kidding. After what he did to you-"

"I said go," she repeated softly, but firmly. There was another moment of silence, during which she could sense her brother next to her silently fuming. Then he rose angrily to his feet and stormed out of the door. After a disappointed look at Ivy, Kennedy hurried after him.

They didn't speak for very long; it must have only taken five minutes for Lana Hunter to convince Ivy Stallone to come back home – her real home, not this place she had spent the last month pretending she enjoyed. It almost made her sad to think that her resolve was quite so weak. She would have liked to think that after such a long time she might have hardened her heart a little, and with her cheek still stinging, she should have been on alert about this girl, but she wasn't. She wasn't, because all she really wanted to do was see him again, or even any one of them, because right now, she felt like nothing more than a pathetic imitation of a human being.

"You should bring a suitcase," Lana told her and Ivy's heart sped up another notch.

"Do you really think I'll need it?' Ivy hoped that Lana would understand the real question. She didn't get exactly the answer she had been hoping for.

"I wouldn't know, but it's best to always be on the safe side, isn't it. It's a long drive back here." If he says no, the unspoken words echoed around the room more loudly than the others. Sadly, to Ivy, this seemed like the more likely of the two options.

"I have someone to catch up with before we go, it'll only take twenty minutes. I'll be back to get you then."

"Okay."

As soon as the words were out, Lana disappeared out the door and Ivy sat staring at the door, not entirely able to believe what had just taken place. The only proof she had that Lana had ever been there was the faint pain in her cheek and the lingering of perfume in the air around her.

Without warning, Ivy was struck by a terrible fear that Lana wouldn't come back. That maybe while she was out she would change her mind and her one way back into the house would disappear forever as though it had never shown up in the first place. In case this was true, Ivy jumped up and ran to pack her bag, as though doing that might solidify the conversation she had just had. As though doing this might make Lana come back.

"Where are you going?" Mac asked when he and Kennedy walked back in the door ten minutes later. Suddenly Ivy felt sick again. Here was her little brother; the person she owed so much to and Kennedy who had taken her in and been nothing but hospitable towards someone she couldn't stand and now she was leaving them. And as if she didn't feel bad enough about it already, she couldn't even dredge up a scrap of regret. She couldn't want to stay, no matter how hard she tried, because even if she only got to see him for two seconds, it would be more than worth it.

"Where do you think I'm going?" Ivy asked him, watching her hands purposefully to avoid looking at him.

"Don't," he said, as though that one word could change her mind.

"_You_ don't. I'm going to go."

He didn't speak, then he just looked at her sadly and shook his head. She bit her lip and stopped packing.

"It's not you," she said quietly, "It's just, it's me." She felt even stupider. She wasn't trying to break up with him, she just wanted him to understand.

"I love you, Ivy, more than he does, or he wouldn't have sent you away in the first place. I don't understand why you're going to hurt yourself again when you're happy here."

The words sent a stab of pain through her chest. "Say something horrible," she muttered, looking up at the roof, because that awful begging look was still on his face. "Tell me you never want to see me again, or that I can't come back. It'll make me feel better."

She couldn't see his face, but there was something verging on disdain in his voice. "Of course you can come back. You can always come back."

She zipped up her suitcase and looked at him. "I'm so sorry, Mac. I know I've been an awful sister and I thought I could be better, but I can't. I just can't help it." Help being awful, or help being hopelessly addicted to him? She really didn't know.

He sighed, touched a hand to his head in a frustrated way and then looked back at her. It was such an aged gesture.

"Go then. But don't be surprised if you're coming back here sooner than you think."

Looking at the two of them, Ivy wondered if he was right. Was she really taking this opportunity to walk out on the only two people she had left, for no apparent reason and no guarantee? Her stupidity amazed even her. But her suitcase was packed and it was too late to turn back now.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, glancing and Mac and Kennedy in turn. "Thank you so much, for everything."

And with those extremely disappointing last words, she walked out the door and sat down on the sidewalk outside the house to wait for the girl who she may or may not have imagined to return and take her home.

* * *

For most of the trip, Ivy could feel Lana's eyes glancing from her to the road and it made her awfully uncomfortable.

"You're very thin," Lana said after another one of her furtive glances. "You're not anorexic are you?"

Ivy shook her head and didn't speak.

"You must have lost weight then, since you two knew each other, because I can't imagine him being attracted to someone as thin as you."

"I have," Ivy supplied. _Too much_. She silently cursed the gym. It had seemed like such a good distraction at the time, but now that she was finally getting a second chance, was it going to be her downfall? Would he take one look at her and chuck her out because the skin on her collarbones was drawn a little too tightly? The Ace she knew certainly might. He was always moody like that.

"I have to admit," Lana began again, a little further into the journey, when Ivy's eyes had almost started to drift shut, "I find you absolutely fascinating. I mean, here you are, seeming like nothing out of the ordinary, in fact, I would go so far as to say dull and yet no one's ever made him so completely mental before."

"Sorry," She answered, in her 'so-far-as-to-say-dull' tone. "I'm just a little surprised. I didn't have this planned into my schedule for the day."

"Naturally." Lana fell silent again and focused back on the road. It was a car Ivy didn't recognise, which for some reason she found relieving. Being in his car would probably have made her cry, which was the last thing she needed. Walking in to the house with red, puffy eyes and a tearstained shirt wouldn't have been good.

"He never..." Ivy stopped and thought about how to word what she was going to ask. "He never asked – about..?"

"No." Lana was evidently a very direct girl, because she threw the word casually out there, as though it didn't bother her in the least. "Not directly... He just got really angry at a lot of people, a lot of the time, for nothing in particular."

For some reason, the image made Ivy crack a smile. Perhaps it was the ease with which the picture flew to mind. For around the last year, Ivy had watched Ace get mad at people for 'nothing in particular'. Whether or not it was a good thing that she found this image reassuring, she wasn't entirely sure. If he had been mad at them, then surely she wouldn't be exempt, even if once upon a time she might have been.

"Then why did you think to come and find me?"

Once again, Ivy felt herself being glanced at. "Do you want to me to be honest?"

She nodded, although she was surprised to be asked. Nothing had stopped Lana before, why she bothered to ask this time was a mystery. Either she had miraculously gained manners, or whatever the answer was, was bad enough to warrant the question.

"I don't particularly like you. In fact what you did to my brother makes me pretty much hate you, but I got so unbelievably sick of him moping around, I just couldn't deal with it anymore. That's when Queen said if I really wanted to do something then you'd be the one I needed to find. She said since it was your fault, then it'd be you who knew how to fix him. I don't really understand why she thinks that if she brings in someone to have sex with him a few times then he'll feel better, but clearly that's the opinion."

Ivy swallowed, her head spinning nervously at the very mention of _that_. The whole rest of the speech was entirely lost on her. "Oh no," she replied quietly, "No, he wouldn't want, I mean, I don't think that would be... No. No."

Lana rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Look, I don't really care. I was down here anyway to see a friend, so I thought I would take the opportunity to come and find this mystery woman who had messed up my older brother's life. And here she is, but I still don't see it."

"I didn't do it on purpose." The view out the window wasn't much to behold it and besides that it was getting dark, so when Ivy chose that moment to start staring out of it, it certainly wasn't for a view of the scenery. "If it was up to me, then I would have stayed."

_I can't do it anymore_. Was that even what he had said? She couldn't remember the words. It had been eight months, all she had now was the picture of his face, and the general idea of what he meant when he had sent her away. That and the ripped up feeling on the left side of her chest. That, she was sure, would stay for a lot longer than eight months.

"Then whatever you did must have been awful, because I can't imagine any other reason for him inflicting what he has on himself."

These words that Lana kept saying, they were only now starting to penetrate through the hardened shell of Ivy's mind. The things about pain and moping and unhappiness, all the feelings she was certain came from her end, from her side of the state, but not his. Certainly not his, because this whole thing was _his_ decision. She would have stayed, she would have stuck around forever if it had been her choice. But he had told her to go, so why then, would he care that she was gone?

Was she wrong? He had perhaps not been so sick of her? Did he maybe still care, even a little? Enough to let her stay. Maybe even just to touch her again, so she could remember what it is like, before she returned to exile. Just once might be enough. Her hand or her face or her knee; anywhere at all.

She wished this was right. _I love you, but I can't_. Was that it? Was that maybe closer to what he had said? She shut her eyes and tried to think, but her mind had distorted the memory too much. All that was there was what she had told herself was there, and in that memory, Ace certainly didn't proclaim his love for her. In that memory he was sad, but also cold and angry. She couldn't seem to find the true memory, and even if she did, she wasn't sure she would know that it was true.

She shouldn't get her hopes up. It wouldn't do to go in there happy and expectant, only to be crushed again. She didn't know if she could live through what she had for a second time when it had hurt more than enough the first. More than a black eye or a broken rib. More than her parents and friends hating her.

"I suppose it was," Ivy answered, still dull, still staring out the window, still thinking. The culmination of the things maybe was bad, but singularly, Ivy didn't think one thing could be pinpointed. It was just _them_. Them together, it didn't work. Except when it did, because when it worked, boy did it ever. Then there were those times when it didn't and they fought and yelled and hated each other with that momentary, burning hatred that goes out after only an hour or two. But did one outweigh the other? She liked to think so, but then it seemed he had thought so too, only not in the way she had.

"It's snowing," Lana mused, as a wet white drop landed on the windscreen. "How quaint."

It wasn't long before they were off the highway, and in a place all too familiar to Ivy. Streets and alleyways and buildings she recognised were all around her and suddenly she felt nervous. About what, she knew, but didn't want to think about, because it only worsened the feeling.

When Lana pulled up outside the house, Ivy's stomach lurched so suddenly she actually almost gagged. She managed to breathe deeply enough and swallow hard enough to avoid throwing up, but it was a close call. That definitely wouldn't be the best second first impression, she thought to herself, shutting her eyes and laying her back against the seat.

Ivy wasn't sure she wanted to get out of the car, but she'd come all this way and the worst that could happen wasn't worse, she was sure, than anything that already had.

"Are you coming?" Lana pulled her hat down lower over her ears and ducked down to look at Ivy. "It's kind of cold out here and I wouldn't mind getting inside."

"Right, sure," Ivy managed to mumble. "Sorry." The sick feeling just wouldn't go away.

They walked up the familiar path together, and Lana fished a key out of her pocket, fiddling around with the lock, as though it was unnatural to her. Ivy couldn't even remember the last time the door had been locked.

"I should probably tell you," Lana said as the door opened, in a casual tone, "No one knows you're coming."

Inside the house, the lights were on and an unnatural yellow glow spilled out on to the snow covered ground. As Ivy stepped inside, she was hit by the smell of cleaning product, which was indescribably odd and also some kind of food.

Lana shut the door behind them after they entered, not bothering to flick the lock on it. Clearly she didn't care as much about security as the others did. That or she felt that if the house was broken into, she would be the least likely target.

"Queen, is that..." 3, walked into the lounge, still blonde, still short, but a brand new scar on his face, stretching from his temple to his ear lobe. "..you," he finished, in an entirely different tone.

His eyes screwed up slightly, in a manner that suggested he was trying to make sense of what he was seeing. He looked from Lana to Ivy and back again.

"Where-"

"Upstairs," 3 said, before Lana had time to finish the question. "He's upstairs."

"Thank you." Lana's voice was casual, but once again the words made Ivy feel ill. Every step she took was a step closer to another possible disappointment. And it seemed that the closer she got, the more she regretted her decision to come in the first place. Wouldn't uncertainty have been better than being absolutely crushed once again?

"I'll let you go up by yourself," Lana said. "I don't think I need to be there for this."

Ivy wanted to disagree. She wasn't sure she wouldn't run out screaming if someone didn't force her up the stairs, but when Lana slid quietly off into the lounge, she realised there wasn't really an option at this point. She was here, she had a shot, if she didn't at least speak to him, then she doubted she would be able to live with herself.

And so somehow, she forced her feet to walk up the seemingly endless stairs, and she forced her hand to turn the knob on the door, and then she forced herself to stand there in the doorway, as her eyes met with another set of eyes, which she hadn't seen in over eight months. A set of eyes that made her heart drop straight through the soles of her feet and disappear off to God knows where, so she felt like for a second she might have died, because she couldn't really feel any part of her body except for her eyes. The eyes that were still connected with his.

"Hi," she said, after one of those eternities they sometimes had, where no one spoke and they both just stared. It was a lame introduction and she felt stupid as soon as she said it.

Ace looked the same in a way, as he always had. A little bit older maybe, but not much. His hair was little bit longer, but not much. His looked tired and overworked and frustrated, but not too much more so than usual. The only real difference she noticed, was that he didn't look so cold as he had that night last July, or March, or whenever it was – she couldn't think now.

"You shouldn't be here." They weren't exactly the words she had been expecting, although they probably were what she should have assumed he would say. Subtlety never was his strong point.

"I know. But I hoped we could talk."

Ace wasn't looking at her. It wasn't exactly evasive, maybe uncertain would fit better. The emotions in the room were very confused right now.

"Yeah, sure. You want to sit?" He didn't look up and didn't stand. His only movement was a flick of his hand in the direction of the chair opposite him. To Ivy it sounded like a business transaction, or some formal, official conversation that didn't have a whole lot of meaning. Not to him anyway.

"Okay, sure." Uneven voice, Ivy thought; sure sign that something means more than you're letting on, but Ace didn't seem to be paying attention to her, so maybe he hadn't noticed the quaver in her throat. Maybe he didn't realise that this was important; didn't know that being here, sitting opposite him was almost breaking her heart again.

"I just wanted to see you, you know?" She said finally, because Ace didn't seem to have anything to say.

"Sure. I know." Did he really, she wondered, because that wasn't the impression he was giving and the last thing anyone in the room needed right then was sympathy. Ivy had got enough of that over the last months and God knew, he probably had too. Or maybe not, now that she thought about it. Who was there to feel sorry for him? Certainly none of the people he lived with were heavily into pity.

"I wanted to know how you're doing? It's been such a long time, I... I wanted to make sure you were okay?"

He grinned, a completely hollow, soulless grin. "Okay? Why wouldn't I be?"

"You know."

"Do I?"

"Ace, please don't make this harder than it needs to be." Her voice was quivering again. Not so noticeably, maybe, not quite such a give away.

"Oh _I'm_ doing that?" He seemed to be asking a lot of questions, and not giving a lot of answers, not the kind she wanted to hear anyway. Maybe in a way, this was an answer. Again though, not one that she wanted. "I'm not the one who came here. I'm not the one who made this hard."

"It was already hard." She shook her head, for want of a better action. "It was, and you know it. I don't know what else I was meant to do, here. What did you _want_ me to do?"

"I can tell you what I didn't want." She could hear, feel – sense, even – the tempo of the conversation picking up. The anger was growing, the heat rising, everything getting more familiar and naturally, more painful. His voice was half amused, half livid; that odd combination which he made somehow appealing, when it wasn't aimed at you.

"Cause I sure as hell didn't want you coming here just to remind of how fucked up everything is. I didn't need you to rub in my face the fact that I can't have you. And don't try and act as though you didn't know you were doing it, because you did. You knew and that's why you came. You thought if I saw you, then maybe I'd be so depressed I'd want you back."

Ivy stopped and sat, staring at him, for a very long time. He was breathing quickly, worked up. As they sat though, it slowed down. When she had worked out something to say that wasn't either a lie, or an apology, she spoke.

"Well since I'm not denying it, is it working?"

"Shit, maybe it is." Ivy was certain her heart began to beat faster at that. He didn't look so angry then. His face relaxed slightly, his eyes shut and he covered his face with one hand. It was sign of exasperation, maybe, or something a little different, Ivy didn't know. Exasperated with her, or himself? Again, she wasn't sure.

"You're wrong, you know." She said after another pause, while his words sank in.

"I thought you weren't denying it." He still hadn't looked at her. His eyes had wandered to every corner of the room, every inch of wall and table and window, but never to her face. Almost as though looking would make it too tough.

"Not about that. About me. You said you couldn't have me, but you can. You can have me whenever you want, Ace. I've been yours for a pretty long time now." She paused and took a deep breath. It felt strange to pour her heart out to him again, for what must be the hundredth time, and yet it felt like the first. It never got any easier.

"Would you look at me? Cause I feel kind of stupid saying this to the top of your head." She grinned half heartedly, and he finally glanced up from the table.

He wasn't crying, thank God, or she might have passed out from shock and ruined the speech, but the expression might have been his equivalent. It's was drawn and surprised and wary, all at once. It made him look old. Older than usual, but also just plain old. Like he'd had more than enough of the world and just needed a break. His eyes, still the same colour as they'd always been, looked almost imperceptibly less hollow than they had when she walked in. _Almost_.

"It wasn't me that wanted to go and it wasn't me that didn't want you, so if you think that any of this is happening because _you_ can't have _me_, then you're wrong."

"Then so are you." He didn't look away when he spoke, Ivy noted, which she was grateful for. It was nice to look in his eyes while he spoke. It reminded her of other times, which she had missed. "Because I never said that I _wanted_ you to go. Just because I thought it was better for other people, it doesn't mean I wanted it."

"Then why did you do it?" She found then that she was quite inclined to cry with frustration. What had been the point, if not for him?

"You don't understand, Rocky, what it's like to be responsible for someone other than yourself. What it's like to owe someone so much that what you want doesn't matter anymore. When someone trusts you with their lives; when they'll die for you, you can't understand what it's like to have that amount of pressure on you and you have to stop acting as though you're the only one that matters."

"Oh, I don't understand that?" She laughed. "Ace, why do you think this happened? Who do you think I went out there for in the first place? It sure as hell wasn't me, and it wasn't you either."

There was another silence; one too many in Ivy's opinion. This was turning more into a staring contest than a conversation. It needed to be broken, so she broke it.

"I love you, still, even after everything. I spent nine months trying not to, and trying to forget and it didn't work. And maybe if you say no, if you say that you don't _want_ me back, then I can go back to that and start trying again. I don't know if I can do it, but I know I can try.

"But if you can't say that; if you still feel like you used to, even a little bit, I don't think I could live with myself. I don't want you to punish me because you feel a sense of duty to someone else. It might be selfish, but I really don't care at this point. I've tried living without you and it doesn't work, so don't make me try it again if it's not what you really want.

"There isn't anything more I can do than sit here and ask you to take me back. I can't make what happened go away, I can't tell you I wouldn't do what I did again so if this isn't what you want – if you think you can do better, then I'll go. But I can't go without telling you that I love you, as much as I did nine months ago and in the near future, I can't imagine anything's going to change that."

Ace sighed. Ivy had to admit, it was quite a speech; more than she had expected to come out with initially, but she felt a lot better now that it was said. When there was nothing left she could do, she could fully appreciate that the decision was entirely in his hands and if he wasn't interested then there was nothing she could have done to make him change his mind.

"God, you make it so impossible."

His voice didn't hold a trace of the anger it had minutes ago, nor the frustration, which seemed odd considering his words. Usually one emotion or the other would be involved with a sentence like that, Ivy thought, but not now. He just sounded tired, and slightly amused.

"I don't understand why it's so damn hard to not love you. Really, it just doesn't make any sense to me. I can't tell you I don't want you, because I never stopped, but I can't tell you it'll work either. What we had before was one fuck up after another, and I can't guarantee it'll be any better this time. All I can tell you is that I do still love you, and I don't want you to go. God knows, I tried to want it, but you make it impossible."

Ivy smiled, what was potentially, thinking back on it, the first real smile she had had in a very long while.

"So that's your roundabout way of saying 'I'm sorry, I love you, please forgive me for kicking you out?' or am I misreading the signals?"

Ace's eyes creased up around the corners as he smiled that smile she'd been missing for so long now. "Maybe it was. I don't know about being sorry though."

"Oh, I think you are."

"And why's that?"

"Because." Ivy stood up and skirted around the table, to rest her hands lightly on his thighs. They felt familiar under her hands, and the very idea that she was one again touching him made her feel a little dizzy. "You missed out on nine months of me doing this."

Ivy kissed him, and all these feelings that had been shut off, that she wasn't even sure she remembered came back. Just another one of those things which she thought she had forgotten and yet now, here, it felt so very normal.

Ace chuckled, never moving away from her.

"You're right," he mumbled, resting his forehead against hers. "I am sorry."

"So am I," Ivy replied, looking into his eyes to try and best convey the honesty of the words.

"Nothing to be sorry for." Ace kissed her again, his lips just brushing hers for the quickest second before he spoke again. "You're absolutely perfect."

She smiled, closing her eyes and trying once again to breath in the smell of him, to imprint on her memory, even though she no longer needed to. She didn't need to memorise the feel of his skin or his lips, or remember the smell of his hair. She didn't need to be able to picture the way he looked when he smiled or laughed. He was hers again and any time she wanted to know, all she had to do was look.

"Not perfect." Ivy shook her head and, lifted a hand to touch his cheek. "Not yet. But it will be."

_**Fin**_

* * *

**_Confessions Of An Unadulterated Heart (sequel) link: .com/s/2726512/1/Confessions_of_an_Unadulterated_Heart_**

**_okay, so clearly I'm not allowed to copy the link onto this page. just put fictionpress infront of it, plus the www obviously and there you have the link, should anyone want to use it._**


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